Something Unexpected
by Micstar
Summary: Beth and Daryl are flung together after the Governor's attack on the prison. It's clear that Beth and Daryl have chemistry. Let's see where they end up.. (if you don't like Beth and Daryl pairing, then this is not for you/ Also this is a slow-burn story) Other characters will join later.
1. Chapter 1

Smoke and complete chaos surrounded a petite little blonde woman as she crouched behind one of the scattered old wooden crates used for covers, while scanning the carnage of dead walkers, enemies and people that had become friends over that last months. The walkers still wondering around trying to find their next meal, instead turning towards the burning tank. The horde was surrounding it now, some catching fire, they had not noticed her, the thick smoke masking her from view and scent. The blonde, Beth had been looking for Judith, the little baby that she had become a surrogate mother to her over the last few months, Beth was the only mother Judith had. Beth spotted the empty baby car seat that was used to carry Judy around, it was in between the walkers and she saw it was empty with blood splatters around, could be anybody's blood, right? Her heart tightening painfully, a despondent sound catching in her throat as her eyes became watery, her baby was... gone. A noise of one of the prison doors behind her opened with a familiar low rusty groan, she turned around, her eyes catching a familiar figure, her ice blue eyes clashing with a stormy grey pair. She thought she was the only one left, Beth had caught a glimpse of the orange school bus making a hurried exit only a couple minutes before with some of the leftover prison survivors from the Governor's massacre.

The figure silently jogged towards her, he would have recognised those long silky curls anywhere, glowing like a soft halo, the walkers were too busy clumsily beating on the burning tank to notice at this stage. Beth was relieved to see Darryl as he crouched down next to her, hissing at her quietly not to draw attention, _"what the hell blondie! You're supposed to be on the goddamn bus!"_ She looked at him with a pained expression and whispered _"J-Judith..." _A single tear streaking down her paled porcelain cheek, fighting to keep the rest of her tears from bursting through. Daryl's shoulders sagged as he understood her tone and distraught expression, he had grown very fond of the 'lil ass-kicker' his nickname for Judith. Forcing his own distress aside for now, choosing to let the survivor instinct in him to take over, he had to, for both their sakes, he reached and squeezed her hand, whispering hoarsely, _"Beth, we have to get out of here, that tank won't burn like this for long"_. With his other hand he held onto a small backpack he kept hidden near the entrance of the prison door for an emergency like this, he had suspected the governor would resurface sometime, but he never actually expected the confrontation would end up like this and that Governor would have had a fuckin tank. Hershel, Beth's father had been decapitated by the Governor, his body was laying a hundred metres away if there was anything left of him, Daryl pushed the thoughts aside, this was not the time and place to re-hash all this, they had to get away, all they had now was each other.

Daryl reached for the large hunting knife sheathed on the side of his hip and placed it into her small delicate hand, _"Beth we are gonna use the crates, barrels, and whatever else we can find to sneak past the walkers"_ He reached towards her and zipped up the snug light leather jacket she was wearing, she looked at him confused. Unlike his usual cool self, he gave her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder, _"There are a lot of walkers down there, and they will try to grab at us as we pass, so tie your hair up good"._ Beth was in a state of shock and relieved, it was easier to follow his instructions than think for herself now. Securing his small backpack to her small frame and the crossbow to his back. Clutching her hand tightly in his, the other hand holding a very mean and sharpened looking machete, reminding him a little of shorter version of Michonne's Katana, not his usual choice of weapon, but his crossbow was just not going to cut it in this situation and the arrows were far too valuable to use in this situation if he could not retrieve them to re-use, he needed the machete to clear a path for them as they got closer to where the fence was. _"Right! let's Move!" _

Beth Stuck close to him as they progressed from crate to barrel, sneaking away from the main herd that was still migrating towards the tank, it was smoking more rather than burning now. The walkers that had managed to catch fire, their bodies were making spitting and crackling noises, like the same sound when you put damp log on a fire . The noises keeping most of the walkers near the tank area. Daryl and Beth were now hiding behind what had used to be old fence to the pig sty, made from random wooden planks. Daryl counted about ten walkers between them and the treeline leading into the forest. The walkers were spaced out and some were still feeding on some of the fallen bodies from the attack, which were mostly the Governor's people. Daryl squeezed Beth's hand again, she could not remember ever having so much physical contact with Daryl, except for that one time when they hugged after she had learned Zach never made it back from a run. The facade of cold hunter had been dropped giving her a glimpse of him, a good man, this fact he tried hard to hide, preferring to usually portray himself with the hard exterior of not giving two shits. He could have easily left her there if he had wanted to, he was one of the strongest from their group and definitely the toughest one out of the two of them and let's be honest, compared to him, she was more of a burden and he could probably survive a whole lot easier without her, but here he was, _"Beth we are gonna have to make a run for it, keep hold of my hand and run as fast as you can, don't look back, we are gonna dodge these fuckers, I move, you move, don't stop, We are NOT stopping!"_ She was so grateful to him and did her best to offer him a tight forced smile and a return squeeze to his hand while she whispered. "_ready as I will ever be"._

Daryl had to smile inwardly at her, she may not have been the strongest person physically in the prison's ragtag group, but she had pluck. After all the shit she had been through and she was still keeping herself together, they might actually make it to the treeline, this gave Daryl an extra boost of energy, _"let's go Blondie!"._ This part seemed to happen so fast, they were both running in unison, dodging flailing rotting hands that Daryl sliced through with his machete. Beth moved surprisingly fast, her small petite frame enabled her to move quite stealthy and fluid, it gave him the inclination to push the pace harder, a sort satisfaction washed over him, girl had some fast legs on her, he had never realised how quick she could be, Beth was much lighter and equalled his new increased pace.

Beth gripped tighter to his hand drawing strength from his contact, she surprised herself by pushing harder, not for herself, but for him. Her worst fear would for him to regret coming to her aid, if not for Daryl, she would have been walker feed by now. They made it to the treeline without too much difficulty, some of the stray walkers following them into the woods, the two of them putting a sizable distance between them and the walkers as they moved almost as one, this new unlikely alliance sustaining them to keep pushing on. Twenty minutes of almost inaudible sprinting since they had reached the treeline and not a walker to be heard groaning and hissing behind them, Daryl slowed and Beth followed suit, they both made it to a stop, inches from one another, leaning over and panting, they still had their hands locked together. Panting eventually turned to slow deeper lungful's of air and then slowing to normal. Beth Stood up straight, Daryl was already up and looking down at her. He saw relief skittle across her face, she let go of his hand, for a split second, somewhere deep inside him, he was somewhat reluctant and refused to admit he did not want her to let go. Instead Beth plunged herself against his chest and just hugged him like he was the only solid foundation in this stormy scenario, he was a bit taken back, not used to the intimate contact, but after their mad dash, they had actually made it, he relaxed and laced his arms around her quietly, giving into the sensation, both relaxing and drawing mutual strength from one another again, it was a strange dynamic that he had not experienced before, leaving him feeling a little unsettled and curious all at the same time.

The whole encounter mixed with the physical exchange seemed to pull them a little closer, you could even describe it as a wisp of something linking them, a bond had started grow that was not there before the attack of the Governor. Beth and Daryl stood there for a few minutes before they both reluctantly withdrew from the embrace. He gently turned her around by her shoulders, the contact warming his fingers and through her thin leather jacket to her skin, a soft blush making her cheeks glow, though it would not have been noticeable as they were both still flushed from the heavy sprint. Daryl unzipped and reached into the small backpack that held a small bottle of water, an additional hunting, an oversized poncho and some expired muesli bars. He handed her the water bottle to drink from. She took a few small sips, closing her eyes at how wonderful it felt to have the liquid coat and soothe her dry hoarse throat, a sigh of pleasure escaped her lips, she gave him an appreciative smile pushing the bottle to him, he was still watching her, curbing his reckless and wayward thoughts, the tip of his tongue sliding along the inside of his bottom lip unconsciously. Shaking his head, he pushed the bottle back to her obviously not satisfied with her tiny intake, insisting she partake of more, giving in she took a larger sip and pushed it back towards him again, he seemed a little more pleased with her last sip. He took two large gulps and sealed the bottle. They had to conserve what was left till they could find a water source.

Beth was the first to really speak, _"Daryl? what now?"_,Her facial expression seemed lost and he knew that he needed to give her something to focus on, a goal, she could not fall to pieces yet, they needed a safe place and food so that could pull together and come up with a plan. Daryl spoke in a calm controlled tone of voice. _"We find shelter and food, that's our first priority, when we find that we can come up with a plan, find our family, what's left of it.. first our priority, then we can talk about it further"_ Beth was content with his response, she liked that he had taken control of the situation, again.. Daryl was quickly becoming her rock and Beth his new purpose.

Beth lifted the hand up that still held the knife he had giving her earlier at the prison, she was surprised that she had not cut herself to ribbons during their marathon, Daryl also smiled intuitively reading her thoughts through her facial expressions, indeed she did not injure herself in the process of their run. He placed the machete on one of the leather loops along his leather belt, letting the object dangle towards the mossy ground. Beth was surprised as he started to loosen his belt, sliding his hunting knife's sheath off his belt, there was a spare smaller knife in the pack. He was making a move towards her own belt that was looped into her snugly fitting skinny jeans, quickly undoing it and sliding the sheath along her own belt now, making sure to put it in the best place for her own easy access. Beth bit her lip softly at the action, feeling a little shy that he seemed so comfortable to invade her space, not that she minded, a tiny seed in the pit of her stomach giving a faint warming feeling , he gave her a playful smirk without even realising it, causing her breath to hitch, while he gently slid the knife out her hand, his calloused fingertips unintentionally feathering briefly against the palm of her hand, He had to admit himself he enjoyed the contact, maybe too much, it concerned him, now was not the time so be getting involved, let alone with Beth Green, there was the undeniable age gap between them, he would have to watch himself. Clearing his throat, a voice more grainy than usual, "_Since you not gone and cut yourself, maybe you should hold onto it and I could give you a few pointers on how to use it effectively.. "_ Beth was struggling for words from the contact, making the thud in her chest speed up a little, instead she swallowed and nodded. He continued again, _"You already know to go for the head, you would not have the strength like I do, but if you aim for a walker's eyes or down through the ears if you have the walker side on, it will be easier to get to where you need the blade to go."_ using the knife in his hand to gesture the stabbing action, before sliding it into the sheath resting along her hip. Beth gave a faint smile and soft murmur. _"Thanks Daryl.. f-for everything"_ His name on her lips seemed to curl a little up his spine, he was embarrassed by that and gave her a curt nod and turned to start walking, "come on" was spoken over his left shoulder. Beth smiled to herself, So Mr Dixon had a problem with being told thank you, she followed him all the same, sneaking a brief look at his ass as he walked away, taking pleasure in the sight she felt a blush warming her cheeks again.

**_-To be continued-_**


	2. Chapter 2

They both travelled in silence for almost two hours, obviously still processing the day's events, not speaking since their little regroup after the prison attack. Daryl came to a stop, looking up at a large pine tree, he obviously seemed to have a plan in his head, he turned to her and broke their long silence, Beth welcoming his soothing voice while it distracted her from the horrible replays happening in her head_, "Alright, blondie, I'm gonna help you up this tree here, get yourself comfy cause I needs to go and gets us some dinner for tonight, you will be safe up here, walkers don't climb trees, make sure to climb a little higher, there is a nice fat branch up there that does not look too uncomfortable. Not sure how long I will be, maybe an hour or so, stay up there till I get back, try not to draw attention to yourself"_ Beth looked up at the large tree the first branch was somewhat high, but she positioned herself under the lowest branch and gave a little leap, her fingers and palms curling around the branch, She was wondering how she was going to pull herself up, maybe she should have thought this through more, instead of just leaping, she did not have the same upper body strength as Daryl, I mean, did you see those arms of his, she remembered how they had felt wrapping around her, the thought sent a prickle down her spine, those arms were really toned and oh so sexy, she flushed, her stomach giving a flutter, when did she start to look at Daryl in such a pervy way? Before she could answer her question, Daryl's warm large palms were planted on her rear end, making her gasp. He gave her a good sturdy push up, her stomach now curling around the branch, it would be easier to get up now. Beth swung one of her legs around the branch, managing to straddle herself there, she looked down at him and saw the darkened look in his stormy eyes, almost predatory, was she imagining that, but the look was not there anymore, she must have imagined it.

When Daryl had seen her dangling there from the branch, his hands seemed find their own way to Beth's perfectly shaped little ass, his hands were getting a nice satisfying feel of her rounded backside as he gave her the much needed shove up the tree, she would not have made it otherwise he told himself in justification. Daryl had watched her swing her legs around, his eyes fixed onto her ass while she did, clearing his throat as her eyes collided with his, his voice was uneven when he spoke, "_Think you can grab that hunting knife out the pack?" _Beth did as he asked, letting it drop onto the ground next to him, he leaned over to pick it up, Beth smiled sweetly while staring at his ass, he turned, slipping the blade into another of the loose loops attached to his belt and said, _"I'll be back soon, stay safe and quiet"_ Beth gave him a re-assuring smile playfully adding, _"Likewise Mr Dixon, hurry back to me."_ With that, he took off in a quick jog, Beth watched him leave, enjoying the way he moved through the forest, like a wild cat, so quiet, effortless and even graceful, no wonder he was such a good hunter, as he disappeared from sight she found herself softly humming the chorus from an old music group called 'salt and pepper', words singing in her head, 'what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man… yes he is..' Beth Green behave yourself, that is Daryl Dixon your gawking at, that's what her sister Maggie would have said to Beth if she seen her looking at him like that, Daryl was after all a bit older than her. So what, who the hell cares Beth thought, I'm a grown woman, this is the post-apocalyptic world, no? I'm entitle to have something nice to look at, in fact I'm overdue in deserving it!

Daryl was crouched in a tree for a while now waiting quietly while scolding himself for groping Beth's ass like that, what was he thinking, that girl was 'Jailbait', that what his dead brother Merle would have called her, following up with 'playing with fire baby brother', he knew it was wrong, but hell- a rabbit jumped from a shrub into view, cutting off his train of thought, as the little creature started to sniff and forage, Daryl was silently taking aim with his crossbow, slowly exhaling he pulled the 'tickler', the bolt launched forward sinking swiftly into dinner, the little animal did not suffer, the sheer force of the bolt would have dispatched it almost instantly. Daryl climbed down the tree and collected his prey, pulling out the bolt, wiping the blood off onto a path moss and shrubbery. He started to make his was back in the direction of Beth, they had to get going the day was wasting and they still needed to make their way to somewhere safe, at least dinner was taken care of.

A lone male walker with an afro was softly moaning around the trunk of tree, it must have caught her scent, it had no clue Beth was safely nestled up the tree, she very quietly removed the hunting knife from her hip, slicing little bits of pine leaves and letting them drop into the walkers afro from above, it did not seem to notice or even be bothered by it, she wondered if the walker even felt it? Beth studied the walker below it was clear the dead thing had no thought process, they seemed able to smell living people, but it did not seem to agitate the thing into a feeding frenzy state, it was more a case of being drawn to a direction, like the smell of fresh baked cookies seemed to lure most people, the walkers sense of smell could not be that good, only when close enough she guessed.

Using the sharp blade to slice off a pinecone from the branch, pulling would be too noisy, she threw it onto the to the ground away from her, the thud sparked the walker into action, more groaning and gurgling, arms even flailing about towards the noise, sound she noted was by far their strongest sense, she knew they were able to see, but how good she wondered? was movement the trigger or was the walker be able to 'recognise' the living as their goal for a food source. She watched the walker curiously for a little while longer, it seemed to settle again, swaying in the spot for a moment before moving back to the trunk of Beth's tree, the noisy pinecone eventually had lost its 'interest', but we know that the dead did not have thoughts, they were purely running on sensory instinct, least this was Beth's opinion. Beth sat there in the tree for a little while, bored, she should have been scared, but in the tree she felt safe.

When Daryl had made his way back to Beth's tree, he had seen her dropping bits of what he assumed was clumps of pine needles, his heart beat faster when he saw what she was aiming for, he calmed noting her relaxed posture, she felt she was in no immediate danger. Daryl was watching Beth from behind a tree, his crossbow aimed and ready to fire, his arms were aching from keeping this position for a while, his curiosity keeping him motionless, he watched her little pinecone experiment, not realising it was an experiment, he was studying her, she looked so innocent nestled on the tree branch, comfortably at ease with her surrounding, this was when Daryl realised how adaptable Beth was. At the prison, Beth had stepped in and assumed the role of Judith's mother, without being asked, never complaining. The way she would tie Judy to her back with a thin cotton blanket, almost like the African tribal women he had seen on national geographic channel, before the world ended, man he really missed that sort of TV. At the prison Beth would step in and help do household chores, prepping food, washing laundry, even trying to teach the other kids to read and count, she even had a knack for first aid, clearly taking after Hershal, she was intelligent, intuitive and a very quick study. Come to think of it, every time Daryl had seen Beth she was always working hard, why had he not noticed this before?, she was always doing things in the background so quiet nobody actually noticed she was there. It started to bother Daryl now that Hershal and Maggie had always managed keep her away from fence duties, runs, anything that might have involved her in dangerous situation, this last thought irritating Daryl further, her family was wrong to keep her this sheltered, this was the fucking end of the world, instead of coddling her they should have been teaching her to take care of herself. Frustrated Daryl exhaled and pulled the tickler of his crossbow, the bolt sinking into the walkers head, dropping it to the ground with a soft thud.

Beth gave a start as the bolt sliced into the walkers head, looking at the direction the arrow's end was pointing, her eyes settling on those stormy grey ones, she had gotten used to recognising them, she grinned at him, her face turning into a smirk. _"show-off."_ A smile reached his eyes as he made his way toward her, stopping next to the walker and pulling the bolt from the its head, noticing the pine needles stuck in its afro, he looked up at Beth face with a frown, _"never figured you the type to taunt a walker?"_ She shook her head as she spoke, _"and you are right, I was hardly taunting it, it was an experiment" _Daryl looked at her a little confused, so she continued, _"This walker was moving towards that direction, he would have continued past if he didn't catch my smell, at least that's what I think got him moving in my direction, he was about five metres away, before he changed course and ended up under this tree. Daryl, they got poor scent, probably better at smelling us if we are bleeding though"_ Daryl watched her continue to speak animatedly, listening to what she was saying carefully, _"Oh and also, I was throwing those needles cause I figured out there sense of touch is poor too, the walker never realised the needle in its hair, I threw the pinecone and it got all riled up from the noise. Then it got me thinking further what about sight?, I figure they go on movement, walkers all have no though process, right?" _Daryl stood there staring at her, not saying a word, it was Beth that broke the quiet silence again, _"hello earth to Daryl, you hear what I said?",_ on hearing his name, he nodded and spoke, _"yeah I heard yah, we can talk about this more later, we are wasting light and we should start moving again. You gonna slide down this pine and I'll give ya a hand?"_ Beth did not give an answer instead she made her way to the branch she had used to climb up earlier, straddling the branch, leaning over and swinging her legs around till her stomach was curled over the branch like see-saw, her arms quickly replacing till her body gently started its decent. Daryl's facing her, his hands spanned her hips guiding her down, her hands rested on his shoulders, till her feet rested on the floor, they stood there still linked as both reluctantly let go. She flushed and was the first to awkwardly speak, _"um, thanks."_ His more like grunt, _"your welcome"_. Daryl grabbed the bow from the ground and swung it onto his back securely, grabbing the rabbit from the ground, he smiled up at her, _"I got dinner, come on",_ Daryl started walking away and Beth again following behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Beth and Daryl had been walking for a while, the sun was hanging lower and they were heading in the direction of the old town called Woodbury. Woodbury used to be the Governors old stomping ground, it was deserted since the first attack on the prison, Rick had relocated a small of group of Woodbury residents to the prison for protection after the Governor had abandoned them, they were not able properly fend for themselves, a lot of good it did them, the governor attacked them all in the end. Maybe there would be still some things to savage around there, it had after all been a reasonably sustained community before the governor had gone bat-shit crazy. The forest that they had being walking through started to thin out and open to a road, Daryl knew was leading to Woodbury, It was not far now. Beth saw the fence around Woodbury, not actually knowing it was Woodbury, she had never seen Woodbury herself, She drew up closer behind Daryl, her fingers instinctively laced into Daryl's fingers for protection and comfort. Daryl seemed surprised at the contact, his face turning to the side to meet her apprehensive expression, she seemed worried, He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze while he spoke. "It's Woodbury, figured we could find supplies here, and I know from what Merle said this place has a water supply, now we just need to find a safe place to crash." Beth seemed to relax a bit, but never let go of his hand, Daryl did not mind, he liked the simple contact, it was innocent enough, he could give himself that at least.

They slid into Woodbury quietly, not wanting to alert any walkers or even people, there was some truly wicked people out there that thrived in this world's new cutthroat environment, sadly it was the nice people, like sweet Beth that always paid the price. Daryl knew he could have ended being one of those bad people, if he had chosen so, but being with their group had brought out and nurtured the strong protector in him, he realised it was not much of a life if you did not have a purpose. The world had turned to shit, but Daryl had found his self-worth and purpose and that was keeping himself and Beth alive. They continued to move silently threw the town till they reached 'The general store', Daryl let Beth's hand drop, replacing it with his trusty crossbow, Beth followed his cue taking out the hunting knife from her hip, they slipped quietly inside, the shelves in the store were low, giving them a reasonably good view if there were any walking standing around, the store still held some good items, Daryl nodded to Beth, she took off the backpack, making sure to open the bag quietly, the rope cords easily giving way, Daryl had been smart to pick a bag like this, zips would have been too noisy, he really did think of everything. Beth started to fill the bag with a couple of small LED torches making sure to check the batteries sizes needed, no use picking the incorrect ones, it would only be deadweight to carry around. She continued through the isles picking up items that seemed useful.

Daryl managed to find some more bolts for his crossbow towards the back of the store marked 'camping and hunting', he placed his crossbow down on a near shelf, looking at the backpacks, he selected a medium sized one, it was nice and light, moving on towards the tents, he spied one of these new types that did not use metal poles, it had these plastic rods that you could fold into a circles, it was a one man size, Daryl grabbed and shoved it into the pack along with a light, good sized sleeping bag, it had plastic zip and was made from special fibres, designed to be warm and light even though it was thin. He grabbed his crossbow and made his way to Beth, she had filled her own backpack up, _"you ready to leave?"_ he asked, Beth nodded, and the both moved to the exit of the store.

Daryl scanned buildings along the street for a couple of minutes, he eyes settling on double story post office building with the higher than normal windows, the doors looked nice and solid, Daryl slipped his hand around Beth's, it was fast becoming a habit, she anticipated his intention to move towards the building. Quickly they made their way along the building's alley towards the back, there was an iron bar gate that was leading to the back courtyard of the building, it was fenced all around and safe from walkers, Daryl unlatched the gate and they both slipped in, latching it closed behind them, it was a tidy secure courtyard. Daryl moved towards the back door, dropping Beth's hand, again reaching for crossbow and dropped his backpack on the ground, Beth did the same with her pack and reached for her knife. Daryl tried the lock on the back door, bingo! it was unlocked, he slowly let the door open, and knocked on the door, if there were any walkers inside, the noise would attract them. Nothing, Daryl was not surprised he had counted on this building being the safest, it had nice high windows, not the type the walkers could break and just walk into, these windows were shoulder length height and very much intact , not like the other riskier shop windows.

Daryl went in first, there was a set stairs going up on his right, he continued while Beth waited on the landing, He cleared out the ground floor of the building, it was made up of two rooms, one for when there had been customers, an old solid wooden churchlike pew, built to withstand the test of time , it was positioned against the wall and on the opposite side there were a row of three writing booth's, a pen chained to each booth were neatly sitting inside the pen holder that was drilled into the wood. There was a small rotisserie collection of postcards and cards along with some simple blue ballpoint pens in a wooden box. Daryl was standing in the room on the other side, which was separated in the middle by a concrete wall that was built up to hip height and iron rods to the ceiling, on one side of the partition there was old solid door in this same partition, best way to describe, it looked like old banking teller counter design, separating the customer from postal clerk. Daryl guessed the building was obviously the original post office from when Woodbury had first became a town, but had been simply renovated for modern times, there was a toilet with a small sink built under the stairs that lead up.

Daryl moved towards the stairs and quickly climbed to the second floor, they opened up into a well organised studio apartment, the opened planned living space had a small kitchen with an old wood burner stove with basket filled with wood and old paper, two single lounging chairs, a small double bed, a small wardrobe and a door to Daryl's left, which he assumed lead into a bathroom. The bathroom had what looked like the old original claw-foot bath and small sink, above that a large mirror with a thin toiletry cabinet behind it, next to the sink sat a basket filled with neatly folded towels, the person who had lived here was tidy, the loo downstairs was obviously the only toilet in the building. Daryl moved back downstairs and smiled at Beth, _"I think we hit Jackpot, come on let's grab our bags and go up"_

Beth put her backpack on one of the lounge chairs, the place was compact and simply decorated with solid wooden furniture, the previous owner was a minimalist, no frills, just solid quality pieces, she liked it instantly. While Beth inspected the studio upstairs, Daryl went and secured both front and back, they both still had old fashion slide bolts, they sure knew how to make locks in those days, may not have been pretty looking , but they were effective, Daryl was pleased as he made his way up towards Beth, no strangers or walkers were getting into this place easily. Daryl's eyes rested on Beth as she sat on the bed, she looked up, he was the first to speak, _"So, we are locked up tight, I don't think we could find anything safer than this, the windows downstairs are nice and high, no walkers are getting in, this is also a building people would be unlikely to check, no supplies in a post office. If I can get the wood burner stove in the kitchen going, we can cook our dinner and after that maybe even manage a lukewarm bath"_

Beth let out an excited squeal, Daryl's eyes grew larger as Beth leapt towards her backpack tipping the contents into the chair, rummaging through the stuff, till she straightened up and tossed an oval shaped object at him, he caught it and he sniffed, smelled like fresh clean linin, it was soap. _"you got soap?"_ She smiled at him, _"of course I got soap, just cause it's the end of the world, does not mean I can't enjoy the pleasure of a bathing! Oh my word! Daryl, I had cold showers at the prison, but a bath and with possibility of warm water at that, I think I just died and gone to heaven. "_ Daryl stared at her, he loved watching her face light up like a Christmas tree, she was so lovely, he wondered if she realised this _"Well Mr Dixon! don't stand there, light my fire"_ Daryl let out a chuckle, seeing the double meaning in her words, she obviously had not noticed this, she was so pure he thought. He moved to the stove and reached over to the wood basket, using the wood and paper to start the fire, it was not long till he cleaned the rabbit, putting the unwanted bits into a bucket he found under the sink, he would get rid of it tomorrow, bury them, did not want to attract walkers and such. Beth thought dinner was the best she had had for a while, could have been because of the exhausting day, they had barely eaten and having something warm in their stomachs was bliss.

Beth turned on the bath's tap, water starter to bubble down the pipes, water spitting out, as she started to rinse and splash the waters around, letting it drain before plugging up the whole, the water started coming through warmer, she giggled excited, _"Daryl! Daryl, it's warm"_ Daryl laid sprawled on his back with his arm resting over his eyes, he lift his arm just enough to open one eye and letting it fix on her from across the room. It was dark outside, the studio's heavy curtains were drawn closed and a soft flickering glow of six tea light candles Beth had strategically placed around the room for lighting, it all had a very calming effect. Beth bounced around excitedly taking of her shoes, she spoke again, _"Hey Daryl, you think that loo is working downstairs?"_ Still watching her, he answered, _"I don't see why it wouldn't"_ Beth disappeared down the stairs quietly and Daryl dosed off. He was not sure how long he had been napping, felt like a while, it was sniffing and whimpering noises that brought him around, he rubbed his eyes and listened, the sounds were coming from the bathroom.

Daryl knew that Beth had finally fallen to pieces, if was never a question of 'if', but more of a 'when', being in a safe place with your belly full and a bath to help you relax, you are bound to let yourself unravel. He got up and knocked softly on the bathroom door it was slightly ajar. _"Beth… you okay?"_ He got a sniff and a gasp for a breath on air as a response from behind the door instead, _"Beth, can I get you anything?" _There was a silence then water splashing, he figured she was trying compose herself. She finally whispered a little croaky, _"S-Sorry.. I did not realise I w-was in so long, I'll be out in a minute". _Beth emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, a towel curled around her head, and another looped around her slim frame with a tucked in point to keep the towel in place. She looked up a little embarrassed her nose all pink and her eyes all puffy and swollen, Daryl let out a groan and in a few small steps he was in front of her, pulling her into his arms he whispered to her, _"oh Beth, I'm so sorry"_. Beth started to shake, her body sagging against his, she lost all control, his arms tightened, Beth sobbed, she wept for her dad, she wept for her baby girl she lost, and she wept for her missing sister.

It was some time later, Beth had stopped crying letting the occasional hiccup escape, she was not sure how long she had been wrapped in Daryl's comforting embrace, or when he had lifted her up into her arms and carried her to the bed, he cradled her against him till she stilled and settled, Daryl spoke softly, _"you okay girl? You get some of it out?"_ She nodded her cheek against his soaked chest, she uncurled herself from him, giving him a weak smile, _"I should wash my face and you should have your bath, thank you Daryl, you are so good to me I wish I could repay you somehow" _He kissed her forehead tenderly and helped her up, gently steering her to the bathroom to wash her face, after a few minutes of the cold water on her face, the puffiness subsided, she walked back towards the bed, her hair was damp and loose around her shoulders. Daryl slipped downstairs to relieve himself, then quickly into the bathroom and came out ten minutes later looking clean and relaxed, Beth turned around as she heard him exit, he had only a towel hanging around his hips, Her mouth went dry, he smiled at her, oh my god, he was so yummy, her eyes were eating up the sight of him, starting at his damp hair clinging his face, the broad shoulders, muscular arms, the toned chest and stomach, her eyes afraid to travel further, his skin had also some tattoos, she found they only added to his look, that of pure male.

He moved towards the wardrobe and pulled out a pair of sweats, he threw and oversized t-shirt at her, covering her gawking face with it, Daryl had seen the hungry look flash over her face, sometimes her facial expression were just so blatant, he would be lying if he did not feel a sense of satisfaction about that, after all he was also guilty of looking at Beth in that same way, it made him feel like he was at least not the only one looking where they both shouldn't be looking.

Daryl slid on the sweatpants under his towel and Beth pulled the shirt over her towel, then slid out of bed, removing and hanging her towel over the back of the chair, Daryl did the same, watching her creamy legs dart back towards the bed shyly, diving under the covers, He moved towards his backpack and pulled out the sleep bag unrolled it out over the floor, he heard Beth make disgusted noise, he looked over his shoulder, she spoke confidently, _"Are you kidding me Daryl Dixon? You are not sleeping on the floor, tonight we are lucky to have a nice comfy place to sleep and you opt for the floor, this bed puts the prison cots to shame."_ As if to make her point clearer, she lifted the side of the duvet in an invitation. _"I won't hear no for an answer"._ He hesitated, she could see he was having a debate with himself. _"Daryl"_ He walked around and started blowing out the candles, leaving the one on the kitchen counter to burn, the room was lit in a very dim hue, he made his way towards the bed and slid under the covers, she was the first to say _"good night"_ and replied _"goodnight Beth, sleep well"_ He lay so still next to her, the close proximity had his body humming, it felt like ages before her breathing slowed and deepened, she was a restless sleeper, wriggling and re-adjusting, getting used to her movements he finally repositioned his pillow and stretched himself into the mattress, his arms tucked above his head, a satisfied groan escaping him mouth, he was sleeping in tomorrow, he fucking deserved it, sure was one hell of a long day. He was asleep when Beth rolled over and curled herself up against him, her cheek planted comfortable on the top part of his chest a possessive arm followed suit and plopped to rest across his chest. Beth let out a content sigh.

**_-To be continued- _**


	4. Chapter 4

Daryl could not remember the last time having such a good sleep, he lay stretched out, rousing he yawned, the warm body next to him wriggling and whimpering in protest not wanting to be woken up, Beth stirred nuzzling her nose into the crook of his neck, breathing in his smell, mumbling sleepily _"smell so good"._ Daryl's own nose was resting against Beth's hair, his lips pressed to her forehead, replying throatily, _"Mmmm"._ Daryl's eyes were open staring at the ceiling, his lethargic eyes still adjusting, glancing down, Beth was curled up against him, her armed slung over him, her open palm resting on his chest, Daryl cautiously lifted the duvet and had to bite his lip, her leg was possessively draped over his lower torso, Daryl had his arm around her with his own palm resting on her hip, clearly he was guilty of being just as possessive as her. Daryl groaned out loudly, his body was already reacting to Beth. Beth was stirring again. His voice jagged, _"Beth.. Hey Beth.. Wake up.. Beth"_ Beth's eyes fluttered open, she yawned into the back of her hand, Daryl groaned at this, she was even polite in her half asleep state, he found it rather endearing.

Beth stared for a moment, looking at Daryl and folded the duvet over and spotted her leg resting over his torso, glancing up at him while she bit her lip apologetically, she was gorgeous sight, her fuzzy blonde hair in all directions. The sight of Beth had Daryl visualising flashes of erotic images of her in his head, he felt himself harden even more, at the worst possible moment Beth moved her leg away, it was all going terrible wrong, Daryl's was left out in the open with his generous arousal outlined through his sweatpants, Beth could not help but notice, her eyes grew larger as she bit her lip harder, Her own dialogue in her head, oh my god!, Beth!, stop staring! Daryl grabbed the covers back up and looked completely embarrassed and started mumbling_, "Look!, noo! I don't mean 'look'… what I mean is… you got to understand I can't help it!" _Daryl's words got more urgent, he southern drawl more thicker than usual _"It's a morning thing and you got that sultry body of yours all pressed into me, nuzzling my neck, Jeeeee-sus Beth!, making those sexy lil noises, tellin me I smell so good, I'm only a hot blooded man after all… "_ Beth starred at him, her mouth forming an 'O' shape, Daryl trailed off and looked at her morose, _"I'm old and pervy, well not all the time"_ Daryl frustrated with his own tongue that was betraying him and spilling out all his thoughts, had daryl growling, _"FUCK! What I actually mean to say Beth, I would NEVER take advantage of you". _

Daryl's growl had Beth's heart thumping harder, her eyes were darkening, she could still smell him in her nostrils, her body was aching for Daryl, what she would not give to have his lips on her now she thought. Daryl spoke in a softer regretful voice_, "Beth, I'm sorry"_ Beth's blood skyrocketed, this maddened her, her voice came out strong and challenging, _"You're sorry? For what exactly, Daryl!?"_ Daryl could feel the stormy emotions rolling off her small body even before she opened her mouth for the next string of sentences. _"For finding me sultry?! Or what was it, sexy?! Or that I supposedly nuzzled you and liked your smell? Daryl, I'm insulted that you would admit such a lovely compliments at me, then erase it all with an apology, there is no such thing as take backs! In fact you should apologise from that apology!"_ Beth seemed to relax after venting some, but continued her little 'speech' "_Aaand another thing Daryl Dixon! It makes me angry that you think so lowly about yourself, you're a good man and I would never think you would ever take advantage of me, in fact to have a man like you take advantage of me, I would be so lucky! This is the post-apocalyptical world in case you had not noticed, all bets are off and previous rules don't apply, we have to take happy moments where we can!"_ Beth Clamped her mouth shut on that last sentence, maybe giving more away than she had intended, her face was flushed and she was breathing ragged.

Daryl had his mouth hanging open, taken back by her words, struggling for his own words _"I'm – I'm So-"_ She glared at him and interrupted him, _"don't you dare say you're 'sorry'!"_ Daryl had to smile at her feistiness, he liked her hot tempered and liked that she was not afraid to challenge him. It was a side of Beth he had never seen and if he was being honest, it got him all hot and bothered with heart racing faster. Daryl was not able to stop himself from sitting forward, cupping her face and burying his digits burying into her the silky tresses of her hair, he bought his mouths hurtling to hers, his lips bruising hers in a demanding kiss, she open her mouth like a desert flower to rain, letting a blissful moan escape her throat, Both their tongues dancing and teasing one another, her arms snaked around him.

Daryl let out a pleasure filled growl, it sent shivers down Beth spine, the whole situation had her creaming herself between her thighs and her nubbin throbbing, knowing she had no panties on only fuelled the fire raging through Beth's body. Greedily Beth pulled Daryl on top of her, instinctively needing to feel the weight of him press into her, the only thing separating the part of their bodies that begged to be joined was Daryl's sweatpants, Although Beth was inexperienced, she instinctively pushed her hips against him, acting on what he body seemed to crave, this was driving Daryl crazy and had him reaching his hand down to cup her ass and grind his length firmly against her, his hands squeezing groping her ass possessively, took Daryl a moment to realise that she had slept next to him all night with no panties on, the sheer trust she had in him, he was groaning _"oh god Beth… you are soo beautiful" _Breaking their kiss, breathlessly he stared down into her eyes and she bit her lip moaning and staring back, her eyes dark and burning a hole through his soul. Daryl was astonished, never ever had he thought such passion would originate from Beth, he could not steal her innocence from her like this and it pained him that he had to stop, his body was trying to fight him, his hips grinding less forcefully into her, he could feel how she had soaked his pants with her own excitement, swearing silently to himself 'FUCK!', Daryl stilled and took a breath, _"Beth baby, we need to stop"_ Beth eyebrows furrowed and she spoke breathlessly, _"What? No!, why?!"_

Daryl had to roll over to try regain control he was out of breath, Beth was sitting up now looking very confused and clearly irritated, _"What The fuck Daryl?!"_ Daryl looked shocked to see her swear, but he could understand her frustration, he felt it too. Beth gave his shoulder a girly punch and protested _"You can't just make me feel the most amazing things then, stop!.. did I do something wrong? Tell me now!?"_ Daryl swallowed and shook his head, looking at her with a gut-wrenching expression, his voice raw, full of emotion, _"Oh god Beth, you were - you ARE perfect, so responsive.. hot, sensual, Fuck! I care too much about you to rob you. You are the type of girl that waits for marriage, I can't take that from you, I have no right.." _Beth stared at him with her mouth hanging open, surprised at all the kind things he said to her, making her feel all warm and fuzzy. Daryl climbed out of bed determined and shut the bathroom door behind him a little harder than he should have. Beth still speechless from the whole situation sat there staring at the door he had disappeared through.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next week Beth and Daryl resumed a quiet routine, the heavy petting 'incident' was not mentioned and Daryl did his best to keep all conversations steered towards 'strictly business'. He even slept in the sleeping bag on the floor. A part of him preferred to limit his contact with Beth, it was easier than dealing with his attraction for her and he was afraid that she would bring it up. He started to relax after a couple of days, it was obvious he felt more comfortable with each day passing, putting his mistake further in their past and this hurt Beth, it saddened her that his reaction was to sweep the memory under the rug, after all it was the most intimate she had been with somebody, her past experiences had consisted of chaste kisses here and there, but the burn that Daryl had woken up inside of her was nothing she had anticipated, she had no idea being intimate could be like that. While Daryl continued to relaxed, Beth became quieter and withdrawn, her usual warmth towards him was replaced with aloofness.

Daryl had spent the last couple days picking the little town clean of any useful supplies, they had been lucky no large groups of walkers had wondered into town, the odd walker would stagger down the main street and Darryl would pick them off with his crossbow and retrieve the bolts when the area was cleared of danger. Beth had broken the silence during dinner a few nights back, and suggested that they should relocate the dead walker bodies towards the fence line out of sight or elsewhere, not wanting to advertise to other people that they were lodging nearby, adding that it was possible that the walker's smell would deter other walkers or at least mask their own. Beth's ideas were usually logical and smart, so it was agreed. The next day they had started to move the bodies, Beth even suggested that maybe they strategically push some of the cars around to make the entrance to Woodbury smaller, this would limit some walkers finding their way in, Daryl was pleased with this idea and was even silently proud of her.

Daryl had also managed to find a couple of overgrown vegetable gardens and a peach orchard on the far side of town. While Daryl hunted and gathered, Beth was left sorting and stockpiling the items he found into storage boxes packed under the teller counter of their post office, while nosing around she found the spare key to the back door of their temporary home, She gave this to Daryl and he seemed pleased with her find, this could be very useful when Beth and Daryl would eventually leave, locking the door would limit the likelihood of people using this building, it could be a safe place for them to comeback to in the future if needed. Daryl hid the key under a flat stone in the courtyard. Beth continued sorting the stuff Daryl brought back, she wondered why this town was never used to make runs, it clearly still had some very useful items about.

Beth was sorting the items Daryl brought back, she was walking back and forth across the room, frustrated after catching her feet for the umpteenth on the heavy rug in the centre of the room, she had almost tripped over it this time, she decided to roll it up instead, Staring down at where the rug had been, finding something surprising, she stood up and made her way outside to the main street, she knew Daryl would not be far away, calling out, _"hey Daryl?"_ She waited in the alleyway till he came out of one of the stores, Beth could not help watching the way he was walking towards her, her breath hitching, he was something else, why had she not noticed him like this at the prison? He was looking at her curiously when he got closer _"What's up, Blondie?"_ Beth answered _"I think I might have found something, you won't believe it."_ Daryl keenly followed her inside and saw the rolled up rug and floor door. Beth spoke again, _"What do you think is down there?"_ Daryl looked at her and shrugged, he was surprised to see the floor door, so much for thinking this place was secure, he pulled his crossbow from his back, with the intention to check it out, who knew what was down there, it was better to be safe rather than sorry. Beth loosened the knife in her sheath and reached for a torch in one of the boxes, then moved into position to open the door. She watched Daryl as he got his weapon ready, then gave her a nod, she pulled on the door, and it swung open towards her quietly.

**_-To be continued in Chapter six-_**


	6. Chapter 6

Daryl glanced at the inside of the door, there was soundproofing attached to it, weird Daryl thought, maybe a hobby music room? He nodded at Beth and she knocked on the door loudly, there was growling and rattling coming from the newly found door. Daryl cautiously started to descend the steps leading down, it was dark and Beth did her best to shine the torch for light, she was getting a bad feeling, _"wait Daryl!, something is not right, come back up, I have a better idea"_ Daryl nodded and stepped back up the steps, Beth moved to one of the boxes she been working on and fished out a glow stick, bending it till it cracked, she shook the liquid till it glowed then moved back to the door opening and tossed it as far in as she could, it lit the dark room dimly, but enough to make out things, Daryl made his way down the steps again slowly, a miserable groan came from him, Beth followed him in with her knife already in her hand and yelped when she saw what had made Daryl so upset.

The walkers became agitated when they saw and heard them enter the room, the sounds of rattling chains becoming louder and were noisier than the growls and hisses from the dead, the stench was putrid, Beth flash the torch around the room, covering her mouth with the back of the hand that held the knife in shock, she murmured in disgust, _"oh my god Daryl, what the hell is this place?"_ Daryl watched in disbelief as Beth flashed the torch slowly around the room, there were two frail looking, naked female walkers, chained to the wall and a bed up against the opposite wall, all the walls and ceiling were covered in sound proofing as well. Daryl had a strong stomach for a lot of things usually, but this? this was twisted, Daryl, lift his bow and shot one of the walkers in the head, Beth used her hunting knife and dispatch the second. It was quiet, Daryl turned around and left the room clearly affected, putting his bow on the teller counter upstairs, He could hear Beth moving around the room beneath him, and then her heard her say in a disturbed voice, "Daryl, there are no bite marks on these walkers?... why are there no bite marks?!" Daryl already knew the answer to that but could not say it, it turned his stomach, Beth was stomping up the stairs, he turned to see her afflicted face, as she whispered, _"please tell me it's not what I think it is?!"_ her eyes were watery, a tear ran down her cheek and Daryl was already in front of her, pulling her into his arms, she wrapped her arms around him, her check against his chest, _"oh god, Daryl that is malevolent… I don't think I have ever witnessed something so evil… so vile... loathsome… those poor women, they died, then turned, the last one must have watched the other one die and turn, so desolate and lonely… "_ Beth could not say out loud what had happened to the two women before they died, they were naked and chained to a room with a bed, their captor had gone to a lot or effort to sound proof the room. Beth pulled herself out Daryl's arms and went to the courtyard for fresh air.

Daryl followed her outside a ten minutes later Beth turned to face him and spoke, _"we need to move them out"_ That's all she said and moved back down to the dark room, Daryl followed her down, Beth started to unscrew the bolts attached to the wrist cuffs and Daryl and Beth carried them outside not speaking a single word. Beth washed the concrete floor with bleach as best she could, the place stank with disinfectant. Daryl had left to start digging the graves and returned a little while later for some water and to check on Beth, she had a glass with him in silence and then they left the building alone to air its stink and dirty past. They both continued to dig the grave a little deeper, it was still large shallow grave, they carefully placed the women alongside one another, Beth and Daryl had never buried a walker they had not actually known, but both somehow felt they needed to give the women some sort of closure, it made Beth want to go back to the prison and bury her daddy's body. Daryl patted the last shovel of soil and Beth spoke, _"I hope wherever you both are, that you are not suffering. May you find peace in death, that life could not offer you" _Daryl took Beth's hand in his, as they walked towards the main street of Woodbury.

They were not ready to return to the post office, so Beth went with Daryl to the hardware store, they both did not want to be alone after the shock they found in the basement. Beth was walking around the hardware store with a shopping cart it was almost a surreal feeling, last time she wondered down isles with a cart was before the end of the world. She grabbed three packs of shelving units, the kind you built yourself, these where same her daddy used for the tool shed on the farm, the metal types that slotted together then reinforced with screws, ugly but useful. She grabbed some extra tools, then made her way to the exit with the cart. Daryl met her there, he was about to ask what she was going to do with all that stuff, but she spoke first, _"Feels weird walking out the door without paying.. "_ Beth walked back to the post office pushing with the cart and Daryl followed while scanning the streets. They carried the shelves into the courtyard and propped them up against the wall of the building, Bath carried in the rest of the smaller item in her arms into the building. Daryl took out a cigarette and lit it, he did not smoke often there being a shortage of smokes these days, but today had been so fucked up, Beth came out the building dragging the single the mattress, she was flushed and perspiration, she let the offending object fall to the ground outside. She came and stood next to him and stole the cigarette out his mouth and took a slow breath from it herself, blowing the smoke out even slower, Daryl starred in surprise and she just took another draw from the cigarette, Beth spoke while staring up at the sky_, "I'd burn that fucking matrass if it would not give our position away"_ Daryl nodded and Beth took one last puff before she handed him his cigarette back, she stared up at the clear blue sky for a short while longer, it must have been just about two maybe even three in the afternoon. Beth left Daryl to finish his cigarette, grabbing one of the shelving packs as she went inside.

Daryl followed her, carrying remaining shelving packs inside, one under each arm, when he found her down there, she had lit the place with candles, it looked a lot less sinister now, she was pulling the shelving pieces apart, Daryl went to help her, Beth Broke the silence, _"when I had seen this room a few hours ago, I was tempted to leave this place behind and find some other place new, then I realised, we stayed in the prison and that was meant to be a bad place, but it kept us safe for a while and became home, we even made some happy memories.. It's not places that are bad, it's people, I intend to give this room a decent purpose, we can store all the stuff we salvaged in here, get a new mattress for somewhere else, cause that one is not welcome in this home"_ she stilled her hands and added more softer, _"Daryl what are doing in Woodbury, we been here a week, are you and I settling here or are we making a pit stop and moving on soon? We kinda need to decide"_

**_-To be continued in Chapter seven-_**


	7. Chapter 7

Daryl was listening to her intently, agreeing that they could not penalise a place because of its previous rancid owner, he nodded when she mentioned the room becoming a storage place, it was a good idea, well hidden, even it being a 'panic room' was an option, being sound proofed and all. Daryl cleared his throat and spoke. _"I dunno Beth, I wanna find our people… but I am so tired of running for our lives, we have security here, I can keep you safe here. I was picking Woodbury clean for a few possible options, we could set this place up as a 'safe house', get ourselves well prepared and go search for our family, keeping this our base or we keep searching for a new place and find our family."_ Beth nodded, _"Alright then, lets prep this place as a 'safe house' for now, like we been doing, then go see if we can find our family, but maybe you could train me? I don't want to be a burden anymore Daryl, I want to be useful, I want be equals" _Beth locked eyes with Daryl's when she said that and he frowned took her hand and squeezed it, _"Beth I'm happy to help you train in any way I can and you're not a burden, you have plenty usefulness and we are equals, we are a team Beth, we make decisions together and with the hunting and fighting skills I will do my best to teach you"_. Beth continued to watch him and added softly, _"Daryl I want us to be equals in every way, I can't have you treating me like a delicate flower, I'm not a child, you should remember that I had my own baby there for a while"_ Daryl followed her sentence with a deeper voice, _"I was hoping to avoid this subject Beth, it makes me feel awkward and it's not cause I think of you as a child Beth, quite the opposite, I do see you as a women Beth, that morning has proved that, but I'm older than you, I'm thirty-eight and your nineteen"_ Beth interrupted, _"I'm twenty in a couple of days Daryl"_, Daryl smiled weakly and continued, _"I'm concerned that you will regret it Beth, I don't want to ruin what we have"_.

Beth Laughed at his words before replying, _"Daryl your wrong, you can't keep fighting this thing between us, it might make us resentful towards one another, like I have been feeling this past week. Why can't we just relax and see where it goes, it's inevitable. I may be a virgin but I'm intuitive enough to know that we have extraordinary chemistry together, people spend a lifetime looking for that. This world has thrown us together Daryl Dixon and there is nothing we can do about it, besides I have never been one to 'look a gift horse in the mouth'… I won't press the subject further, at least not today anymore"_, Beth turned back around and continued to build up the shelves, Daryl did the same. Putting together the shelves gave Daryl and Beth a chance to process the day and their last conversation, it took them an hour to build the shelves and mount them against the wall. They both stood back and were pleased with their accomplishment, Daryl smiled and broke the silence, _"I think it will turn out well, we need anything else for this room?"_ Beth beamed at him, _"I was thinking maybe we could grab some skinny little shelves, more like ledges, big enough for candles on to rest on, I'm paranoid about accidently knocking candles over and burning the place down, a different single mattress, some cheerful bedding to brightening this room up and some more of those plastic storage boxes, to store stuff on the shelves, light coloured ones preferably so I can write on them with markers… I'll start moving the stuff from up there to down here" _With that she turned around and went up the stairs. It had been another tough emotional day, they were both looking forward to the end of the day.

Beth finished making the new bed in what was now called the 'pantry' it just seemed like a more gentler word, basement reminded them too much of what they are seen down there earlier that day. Daryl had managed to find some bright and cheerful bedding, Judith would have loved the colours, Beth gave a heart-breaking sigh, she missed Judy so much, would she ever have another baby to hold in her arms again. Daryl sensed her emotions as she stared at the bedding and came and stood behind her, letting Beth lean her back against his chest, he spoke soft, _"she could still be out there Beth…"_ she sighed again, over her shoulder this time, _"I dunno Daryl, I really wish I could believe that, but when it comes to Judy I'm so afraid to get my hopes up and have them crushed, I dunno if I could emotionally survive that… Maybe it is better to just not know, that way I can paint my own happy ending for her in my head.."_ Daryl reached his arm around Beth's right shoulder, resting his palm around her left one, he pressed her firmer to his chest while she reached up and clutched his arm for support. They stood there for a few more moments, then blew out all the candles and made their way upstairs, the sun had already set.

Daryl and Beth warmed up the rabbit stew with carrots and string beans from the previous evening and Beth made a flat dough like bread from water and long since outdated flour, she had found in the studio cupboard. They sat on the floor cross-legged, dipping strips of the bread into their bowls of stew, Daryl smiled up from his meal clearly enjoying it, looking at Beth. _"you cook a mean ass feed Ms. Green, even if it was not for the end of the world, I'm much obliged, if I was cooking, it would be charred rabbit, always been good at hunting, but cooking it always been my weakness"_ She smiled back "_Thank you for the compliment Mr Dixon"_ She gave him a wink when she playfully called him by his last name, Daryl grinned, his smile reaching his eyes, she playfully added, _"it's all part of my grand scheme."_ Dipping his bread into more stew as he replied, _"and what might that be?"_ she stared right back into his stormy coloured eyes, _"While Mr Dixon, I could not possibly comment at this time, it's a grand scheme, so I hardly plan to give the plot away before it has had time to shape." _Beth gave him a teasing smile and Daryl smiled back and shook his head, with that she took her empty bowl to the kitchen sink and gave it a quick rinse, she returned with a couple of peaches for Daryl to enjoy for desert, taking his empty bowl back to the sink to be rinsed. Beth heard Daryl sigh contently and she smiled, she did not really have a scheme like she had said before, it was just playful light hearted banter between the two of them, but it had given her and idea for a real plan and so she played around with thoughts in her head.

Beth already knew she wanted Daryl, and not in a school girl crush kind of way, Beth had developed feelings for Daryl and she was not interested in finding somebody closer to her age either, age was not an obstacle for her, Daryl was 'it' for her. Beth was humming softly as she came up with ways she could get under his skin, she planned to become his sun, the way he had become hers, he just did not know it yet. Beth left the little kitchen to run a shallow bath, she continued to hum and sing as she bathed, exiting the bathroom in a poof of steam, her hair plopped on top of her head in a bun, she was wearing a soft peach bathrobe Daryl had left for her on the bed a few days ago. He was lying on floor, using one of the chair cushions for a pillow, he had nodded off, Beth leaned down onto her knees and brushed some unruly hair out of his closed eyes, tracing his nose and jawline with her finger, Daryl gave a relaxed sigh at the contact and this made Beth all warm inside, _"Daryl? wake up Daryl."_ Daryl opened his eyes and Beth leaned away, still on her knees beside him and she announced softly, _"I ran you a bath already",_ Daryl smiled and reached for the hand that had been tracing his face, bringing her fingertips to his lips for a brief kiss, _"thank you". _Daryl got up and grabbed some fresh PJ bottoms and made his way to towards his bath. Beth smiled and started to dress in some PJ shorts and a singlet, slipping into bed. Daryl came out a few minutes later looking all clean and fresh making her way to his bedroll, Beth spoke quietly, _"Can you come lie with me for a little while?"_ as their usual routine, he blew out the tea-light candles save one, letting it burn, instead he made his way to Beth and slipped into bed with her, he found it hard to say no to her requests. Beth rested her cheek on his shoulder and hummed softly, Daryl intended rest to eyes for a moment and would slip back to his own bedroll, but Beth had lulled him into a calming sleep and followed his a little while later.

**_-To be continued in Chapter eight-_**


	8. Chapter 8

Another week had passed for Beth and Daryl without incident, the two of them had slipped into comfortable rota that consisted of filling their little pantry, he would mostly go out on his own and Beth would sort and stock the pantry. She was always busy, whether it was ripping large clean sheets into strips and rolling them up into bandages and storing into clean sandwich bags, or drying and pickling the peaches that Daryl brought back from the orchid outside of town along with any other friut and vegies he could find. The hardest part was finding the jars as it was time consuming going into homes and sourcing the jars, but there were plenty places to pick through, Woodbury really was a heaven sent for them and with all Beth's knowledge she had learnt from living on the farm, mixed in with her amazing organisational skills, it really had made an impact to their new lifestyle. It was not long till Daryl had built another three shelves in the pantry, Beth had everything neatly sorted into storage boxes along the shelves with methodical handwriting in the different categories, Daryl had never seen anything so amazing. Beth had even suggested that if Daryl managed to find a large quantities of salt and garlic, they could even make jerky from deer meat and store for the future. Daryl started wonder why Beth had not been in charge of the household running in the prison, she was knowledgeable and smart. They actually had a chance of becoming semi self-sufficient, of course having staples like flour or rice would always mean the need for runs.

* * *

The mid spring day had been very much like the previous days and by noon they both agreed that they had the best stockroom that anybody could hope for, even under there stairs in the pantry were a couple gerry cans that Daryl had salvaged and siphoned fuel from cars around the town. It made Daryl miss his motorcycle, he would get it back from the prison one day, till then the fuel stash waiting. It was hardly the same as his motorcycle, but for now he had managed to find a couple of decent mountain bikes for him and Beth, they were made from carbon fibre frames, so quite light along with some saddle bags mounted on both side of each bike, Daryl wondered when their luck would run out, shrugging the thought he called inside the backdoor to Beth. Waiting in the courtyard till she appeared, _"Whatcha think Beth?"_ Beth could not stop the excited giggle from escaping her lips, clapping her hands together, _"oh my god Daryl, what a clever idea, we could cover so much ground with these, no fuel needed and silent too, easier to hide than a car too, the saddle bags are great touch, truly what a find"_ Daryl enjoyed her enthusiasm while she had a nosy around the bikes.

* * *

Beth was up first that morning, deftly moving out of bed she was careful to not wake a peacefully sleeping Daryl, they had been sleeping next to each other since the day they found the pantry, she hovered a moment, a finger reaching up to gently slide some of his hair out of his eyes. He really needs a trim Beth thought. She smiled, then continued on towards their kitchen stretching out her body like a cat with each step. It did not take her long to start a small fire in the fire stove and bring a saucepan of water to boil, Beth had found some tea and instant coffee in the office space downstairs, she had decided to keep it a secret from Daryl, determined to surprise him with it. Taking a few sips from her tea she smiled and took a nice relaxing breath, it was these simple things in life that made her forget the world had turned to shit, She padded over towards the bed, resting her own cup on the bedside table that had a lamp resting on the surface, have to move that useless thing out Beth thought.

Taking a sip of Daryl's strong black coffee, She leaned over slightly, blowing the steam from the top of the mug in the direction of Daryl face. His voice was still raw from sleep when he spoke with his laidback lilt, he eyes still closed a soft smile was tugging the corners of his mouth, _"Tell me that it is actually coffee I can smell? I'm afraid to open my eyes"_ Beth let out a satisfied titter, her voice came through a little more sultry than intended, laying on a thick southern belle accent, _"Mr Dixon, I do believe you 'may' be right"._ Daryl smiled, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes and sitting up in bed, Beth all the while subtly admiring his very masculine body, from under her lashes musing to herself, 'old' my ass, she was sure there were twenty year old men that would give anything to have his physique.

Daryl was just about to take the mug she offered, but she slowly pulled it back teasingly and he let out a guttural growl, _"Don't play with me, women… Do you know how long it's been since I had coffee?"_ Beth bit her lip, giving him her most innocent smile, her tone sugary, _"Well Mr Dixon, I could not possible say, but seeing this world has dived back into middle ages, I would say a long time, How about we barter/trade for it"_ Daryl's stormy eyes narrowed and he spoke calmly, _"And what exactly is it you want from me Beth?"_ Beth's eyes darkened with the loaded question and she continued to nibble on her lip, this visual had him swallowing like a parched man, the look she gave him sent his member trying to uncomfortably push out his pyjama pants, it was Beth's husky voice that pierced the electric air around them. _"Well Daryl.."_ the way his name curled around in her mouth, he could not help the barely audible groan slip from his throat, _"there are a lot of things I want from you… "_ She purposefully left a long pause before continuing _"but I would settle for giving you haircut"_ Relief and disappointment flooded through him, it was mixed reactions. Daryl started to chuckle, _"A'ight",_ She smiled and handed him his coffee and reached for her own tea while he took a gulp of coffee, he sighed and she smiled a little too mischievously.

* * *

Daryl was sat on a stool in their little courtyard, the early morning sun shining down on them, Beth stood beside him with a razor blade in hand, he eyed the blade wearily and spoke a little gruffly, _"Try not to lop my ears off blondie"_. Using the bowl of water next to her she started to wet her hands, then ran her long thin dripping digits through his light brown hair, he tensed at first, but her rhythmic pulling on his hair had him relaxing, she would occasionally rewet her hands, her fingertips frequently kissing his scalp and sending little waves of pleasure skimming down his spine. Daryl usually dreaded getting his hair cut, frankly the contact would have irritated him, it was why he had left his hair to grow so long, but she had a soothing touch that his body craved. Beth lifted the blade to small tufts of hair and started a downward motion, down the hair shaft and keeping blade at an angle, uneven bits of hair stuck here and there, to her and to him. fifteen minutes later Beth had moved around in a circle to standing in front of him, his eyes having an advantageous view of her breasts, they weren't large, but were actually larger than he thought they were, he guessed it was the way she carried her body, in such a way not to draw attention, she had a decent handful, he wondered how they would feel in his own calloused extremities, Daryl reprimanded himself for daydreaming about her like this, he knew it was wrong, but he was a guy, when was the last time he had been this close to a 'pair', his jeans tightened around his hips awkwardly, he could not remember the last time a women had this effect on him, clearly the young girl from the farm was gone, replaced with this incredible women that had no idea the control she could have over a man once she learned to channel it, it made him think of the story about Helen of Troy, wars were started because of her, he was only really starting to comprehend the perplexity of their situation. _"Daryl are you okay?"_ Daryl looked up guilty and asked_, "yeah, why?"_ Beth smiled down at him knowingly, _"Cause you keep fidgeting in your seat, are you uncomfortable?"_ Daryl ears turned red, _"Just you with a blade so close to my head."_ Beth gave him a disbelieving sound, _"mmhmmm, if you say so"_ she continued to cut the hair hanging over his eyes. He was now scrutinising the marks on the inside of her wrists, he could not help fixating on the jagged white scares.

Beth blew on the small little blade, and popped it between her two front teeth, she tousled his hair between her fingers, letting the severed hair fall around his shoulders and on to the floor, she was examining her trimming skills, it actually looked really good, she had a feeling he would like it too, it was shorter and lighter, still rugged with the same wispy ends as before, the blade gave the hair a more textured look. God, he looked so much more sexier now that she could see those stormy eyes. She stilled when she noticed Daryl was unmoving, she could see he was studying the scars on her wrists, she took the blade from her mouth and let it drop to the ground next to the bowl of water.

She raised the inside of her wrists up together between them in submission and spoke with poise_, "You may not realise this Daryl, but I would tell you anything, so ask me what it is you want to ask me?"_ he looked surprised at her candour, she stood there in front of him exposed and if he had been standing, the pure gesture would have brought him to his knees, he reached up his own hands and clasped on the underside of her wrists, his thumbs caressing over the scars back and forth and stared up whispering, _"Why?"_ Beth's facial expression softened _"Because I was stupid, immature and I did not realise I had people to live for."_ His next question frightened him, _"And what about now Beth? The prison is gone, your father murdered, Judy the rest of our family is missing, some could be dead already, the horrors out there, what makes this situation any different?"_

Beth was not hurt by his question, she felt stronger because he asked her, treated her like a grown women, instead of sheltering her, the moment between them was visceral, she smiled at him and became thoughtful, _"Well for starters, I'm not that stupid kid anymore, I think in this world, it ages us very quickly, I learned a valuable lesson that day when Andrea gave me the blade after my attempt, that I actually wanted to live, I have more to live for now. So the answer to your question is no, I would not take a blade to myself, I'm not a coward anymore, even with Daddy gone, Maggie missing and the rest of them, but I feel blessed that I ended up with you Daryl."_ She broke off, she knew she would make him uncomfortable if she continued, but Daryl asked, _"Why so blessed?"_ Her face was so serious now, _"Daryl, you have protected me, provided for me, you are the guy a girl wants to be with when the apocalypse hits, you don't coddle, you push and expect more from me."_ She dropped to her knees between his feet, _"I love it when you challenge me, you bring out sides to me I never knew I had, you have taught me so much and you make me stronger Daryl. You could have walked away and left me, but you are such a decent person."_ She smiled while a tear slid down her cheek, Daryl was shy and dumbstruck at her words, she did not say them to boost his ego, she meant it and she touched a chord in him, he just leaned forward and kissed both her wrists, the gesture was so intimate. They stayed in silence for a while longer soaking up the moment.

Beth cleared away the blade and bowl while Daryl removed his shirt and shook it over the fence dusting the loose hair away. They made their way back inside, Daryl inspecting her handy work in the bathroom mirror, he smiled proudly, _"wow Beth thanks, you really did right by me." _Beth came and stood next to him, reaching up and tousling his hair again, _"I'd say it looks very good indeed," _Daryl felt comfortable with the contact, these small interaction had become so natural between them. He even reached out and put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close for a side hug. _"So what's on our plan for today Daryl?"_

* * *

It was late afternoon when Daryl returned with his bike, Beth was standing in front of homemade washing lines lopped into nails tacked onto the top of the wooden fence, the deer that Daryl had hunted that morning had been filleted into very thin strips and season with dry garlic and salt, The strips hung from plastic multi-coloured paperclips, this made Daryl smile, Beth the wonder that nobody realised she was, every day that passed had Daryl and Beth interweaving themselves closer together. Daryl never realised he could be so comfortable and content in somebody's company, Beth was effortless to be around and he had started to care deeply about her, she was what consumed most his thoughts all day and had quickly become his pivot. It was mutual for Beth too, she could not remember a time being this happy, in his charge she was flourishing. He could hardly believe the person that was standing there in front of him was the same person from a couple weeks ago. This morning's conversation had proved that to him. Daryl spoke first, _"No animals or walkers attracted by the smell?"_, She smiled still squeezing the meats, checking how much they had dried since she had hung them, _"Nah, that's what the garlic is for, I think deters and masks"_

She turned around to face him, her face always seemed light up when she saw him and it made him feel alive, he smiled back at her _"Beth, I know it's late, but I have a surprise for you." _She moved towards him with wide eyes, _"Yeah?"_, He reached into his backpack and pulled out Ground Hog made from re-healing foam, it had barely fit in the backpack. Beth giggled, _"You got me a ground hog statue?",_ He nodded, then shook his head, _"Yes, well no, it's not really a statue, but the real surprise is in here"_ he reached into the saddle bags pulling out a few pieces on curved wood and some other curved material, maybe fibre glass or something, there were other pieces too, Beth looked up confused and Daryl grinned very excited, almost like a kid and Christmas. _"Since I found the bikes I am able to go further out and cover more ground, there is a country/hunting club on the outskirts of town, a real man cave hang out and they got some real cool finds out there and I found these."_ Beth still confused as to what exactly she was looking at and Daryl had to smile, it was probably why nobody had snatched up the objects when the place had been picked, the average person had no clue what they would be looking at, Daryl pulled out some bolts, different types. _"Beth it's a bow, well it's a recurve bow, it has interchangeable limbs"_ She squealed out excited, _"Daryl Dixon! You brought me home a bow!"_ Daryl chuckled at her enthusiasm, it was like a warm cloak wrapping around him and it made him feel good. _"So why would I want to change the limbs? you called them limbs right?"_ Daryl nodded, _"Yeah they are called limbs, in the beginning when you're learning you will have the beginner limbs, these are easier to draw back, this requires less draw strength, it does mean you would struggle to hunt for larger prey like deer, because of the thicker hide, muscle and bone, but smaller animals will simple. The other limbs are for when you get more back strength, this equals more power to pierce and the bolt to travel further."_ Beth nodded in understanding, her eyes still animated, _"When do we start?" _

Daryl grinned at her optimism, she was always up for anything he wanted to throw at her and this made his chest warm with pride.. _"I'll build the bow tonight and we can start tomorrow? That's what the ground hog is for, target practice. Happy belated birthday Beth"_ Beth closed the difference between them, pulled on the collar of his jacket and smacked a hot kiss on his lips, Daryl was surprised and got swept up in the moment, he let his hands drop to her hips, tugging her closer while opening his lips to meet her kiss, after a little while she pulled away reluctantly, eyes sparkling and said breathlessly, _"thank you Daryl, you really spoilt me today, I love it!"_ with that she grinned and winked at him, turned on her heel and walked up the steps towards the back door, Daryl was dazed looking at her perfect rounded rump saying _"um... your welcome?"_ Beth chest fluttered wildly as she disappeared upstairs to finish dinner for them, leaving Daryl to store away his bike, backpack and gift into the office, he had placed the bow bits on the empty surfaced desk to start working on later that night. Daryl locked up the gate and downstairs and headed upstairs towards Beth's lovely singing voice, ducking into the bathroom for a bath. He was still itching every now and then from today's haircut and was looking forward to the clean-up, Beth's scrumptious cooking and spending time with her.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter nine-_**


	9. Chapter 9

Daryl was first to wake up the following morning, they had an exciting day ahead of them, well at least Daryl thought so, he was looking forward to teaching Beth to use the bow he had put together for her last night. Beth was still curled up against him, she was a cuddly sleeper and he had grown fond and used to feeling her small warm body pressed up against him, she had not mentioned the couple of times they had woken up with Daryl spooning her with a raging hard-on, pressing up against her bum while nuzzling the side of her neck, along with sometimes waking up with their limbs tangled together, their boundary for personal body space had lessoned, he used to get embarrassed when his body reacted sexually towards her, But now even though he knew it was a silly number it gave him a small comfort knowing he was lusting after a twenty year old instead of a teen. Seeing her own hunger and desire reflecting back in her blue eyes, he had caught her many times undressing him with her eyes or just watching him and it made him feel good more than guilty lately. Daryl's biggest justification was more to do with the fact that he saw her as a women and not a child. Beth had become his equal and he would give his life for hers. The only other person he really felt this sort of connection with was his brother Merle.

Daryl had a rotten upbringing, his dad was a worthless drunk that struggled to keep a job down, always beating on him, his mum and Merle. His mum died from a lung infection when Daryl was seven, but he believed it was his dad's fault, years of her taking the brunt of the beatings to protect her offspring had taken their toll and when she had gotten sick, she just did not have the fight left in her anymore. Merle was fifteen at the time, soon after their mum died, things really got bad, his dad had kicked Merle out for trying to stand up to him, threatened to kill him if he came back. Things went from really bad to worse for Daryl and so he hardened himself, due to all the beatings he never wanted to be touched, because it always hurt all over, it was just better to avoid any further pain all together, this became a habit, pulling away out of self-preservation. Daryl had kept to himself over the next few years till Merle came and took him away from it, by then he was almost a shell of a boy, that should have been carefree ten year old, instead he was quiet, withdrawn. Merle had done his best to provide for Daryl, but he had the same crappy start in life and was left to fend for himself at a young age, causing him to fall in with the wrong crowd to find a way to survive, he could hardly be blamed for being a bad role model, It why Daryl could never hate his brother, even though he did terrible things. He never forced Daryl to do bad things, Daryl most the time just followed and hung around the bad stuff. They had both a shit hand in life, but they always had each other and Daryl felt grateful that his brother had the compassion come back for him.

Daryl did not try to shy away Beth when she touched him, he had started to enjoy the physical contact, not just from a carnal point of view, but the simple things, like the way she would touch his arms when she was talking animatedly, or the way she would lean their shoulders together when they ate dinner on the rug while using the bed for back support, when she would squeeze or reach for his hand, the gentle way she would brush past him, or press her body to the side of his when they stood at the kitchen counter, she would tousle his hair, he liked it when she touched his hair is sent shivers running done his spine. Daryl knew their relationship had shifted in the short time, but that was understandable, it was only the two of them to interact and the close living quarters, they were a team… partners and it would only be a matter of time before he would not have the willpower to reign himself in anymore. A couple days before he had been looking for matches in the beside draw and found a box of condoms instead, he knew they had not been there when they had moved in, Beth had put them there.

Daryl watched Beth a moment longer before peeling himself away from her, it was his turn to wake her up with a morning tea. He built the fire in the stove and brought a saucepan to boil, making himself a black coffee and Beth a herbal tea. He placed both mugs on the bedside next to a paperback he found in one of the houses he had picked a few days ago. Daryl sat back into bed sinking into his pillow, placing his warm palm on her shoulder and spoke softly towards Beth, _"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bacy"_ Beth pulled her pillow over her head and mumbled something inaudible, Daryl had to chuckle, it was the only time he seen Beth grumpy, when she did not want to get up. _"Rise and shine Blondie, I made you some tea". _Beth pulled the pillow from her head, her face covered with her messy mop of blonde hair sprayed in every direction and plopped the pillow near her knees and replied sleepy, _"you made me tea?" , "Yeaah?"_ Beth reached for his palm resting on her shoulder and brought it to her face and placed a peck on the top of his hand in a thank you gesture _"you know me so well"_. She sat up and gave him a sleepy smile and Daryl reached over and placed the mug in her hand_, "Thanks",_ with her other free hand she pushed the strands out her face and took some sips making soft slurpy noises. They both sat there enjoying their comfortable silence while enjoying their hot brew.

They were both halfway through their mugs when Daryl mentioned, _"So I was thinking if you still up for it we could go down to the hunting club on the outskirts of town and I teach yah to use that recurve bow, we could take some food along, make a day of it, get you nice and familiar, then in a few days we could pack up some supplies and start travelling around and see if we can find some of our people, maybe leave some sort of message or clues for them"_ Beth nodded in agreement, _"We gonna take the bikes when we look for the others?"_ Daryl nodded in return, _"Yeah, we can cover more ground faster, I will also teach you some on tracking and tips for hunting. But I thought today would be nice to go out on bikes and get you used to yours."_ She smiled, _"I think I would like getting out for some fresh air and a change of scenery… Daryl what if I totally suck at the bow?"_ Daryl nudged his shoulder into hers, like she had done with him on occasion in a gentle encouraging manner, _"let's see how it goes and we cross that bridge when we get there" _She beamed back,_ "alright, when did you want to leave, I would like to check the jerky, last night was a warm night, pieces that thin should dry quickly."_, _"Whenever you're ready Beth we can leave."_

* * *

Beth had gotten up and dressed quickly, they ate some fruit and leftover flatbread from the night before, it was a filling breakfast, after quickly straightening the place, she finished off in the bathroom splashing water on her face and bushing her teeth. Stepping out the Bathroom, she moved towards Daryl while pulling her fingers through her hair to try and tame her tresses then into a messy bun, he had a map of Woodbury on the counter. She leaned her hip into his side like she normally did, leaning over with elbows on the counter, her normal bubbly self, _"So Mr Dixon, where you taking me?"_ He pointed down on the map and showed her the place as he spoke, _"It about fifteen minutes on the bike."_ Beth had a good look, memorising the town layout it was not complicated, she smiled and nodded up at him, he smiled back and started to fold the map, he would put it in the pack on their way out. _"Ready Blondie?"_ Beth smiled her reply and threaded her small fingers through his and they both moved towards the stairs.

Daryl had packed a smaller pack for them today, he took their bolts in his saddlebag while Beth checked the jerky, _"How's the jerky coming on"_ She smiled back over her shoulder, _"Yeah is coming along well, drying quickly, I think they might be ready this afternoon, I'd rather have it drier, if it's still damp when we store it, it will go rancid, but as deer meat has less fat in it, means it has a better shelf life than beef would"_ Beth moved toward the bike Daryl had carried outside, he locked the door and slipped the key under the stone. The both walked done the alley having a quick check before moving out onto the road, Beth followed Daryl out and the both set out on their bikes. It took Beth a few peddles to stabilise, but she got the hang of it quickly and caught up to Daryl and kept his pace easily as they moved through the town quietly, weaving in and out through streets to avoid the odd walkers, it was nice to have the breeze rushing past, and the morning sun on their backs. It was not long till they reached the club, Beth realised Daryl was not kidding when she saw the way the place was decorated inside, it really was a 'man cave' as he had put it. As they moved through the place she could see the a dead walker that had been taken care of with a bolt, must have been Daryl she guessed, The place was not large and the archery room was more of a long skinny corridor with no windows and a back wall that was made to absorb the bolts that missed the targets.

Daryl was grinning at Beth when they had settled their belongings behind them, Daryl stood holding Beth's new bow, Beth could tell he was in his element and he was enjoying it, this was obviously familiar surrounding for him and she guessed he had spent a little bit of time in a similar 'man cave' like this in the past. _"So Blondie, you ready to see if the bow is your thing?"_ Beth smiled back, _"Yeah, Let's see"_, Daryl nodded and the tutoring began.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Ten-_**


	10. Chapter 10

Daryl started by first but showing her the parts on her bow. He held the curved part of the bow just below the centre, _"This part I'm holding onto is called the 'grip', above the grip is called the 'arrow rest', these curved parts on either side of the grip is called the 'limbs'"_ Beth smiled remembering him explaining yesterday about the interchangeable parts, Daryl smiled as he saw her recognition, he was now pointing to the white mark on the centre of the bow string, _"this is called the 'knocking point'"_ Beth nodded. He put down the bow for a moment and lifted a bolt, pointing to the tip that looked like a sharpened pencil, _"this is the point",_ His hand moved down the length on the bolt, _"this is the shaft"_ Beth could not help a blush creeping to her cheeks, Daryl realised her train of thought, he had a bashful smile and his free hand rubbed his chin, Beth turned even redder and Daryl could not help but chuckle at her before continuing, _"um.. Yeah, well these things on the ends are called 'fletching', each individual piece is called a 'fletch'." _Beth nodded, relieved that he had continued on, she asked him quickly_, "Why is one of the fletch a different colour?"_ Daryl gave her a nodding smile. _"Ahh, you noticed that, it's called the 'index feather' or 'index vane', its helps a marker to place your bolt in the correct way, so in the case you point it toward your bow arm. This 'V' shape thing on the end of the bolt is called a 'knock', the 'knock' fits around the 'knocking point.'_ Daryl could not help the smirk twisting his lip and the teasing wink he gave her, Beth rolled her eyes, she was inwardly teasing him, _"Seriously Daryl! you are so immature!"_, He retorted _"pot calling the kettle black!"_

Daryl laughed, dropped the bolt and lunged for her, Beth's quick reflex had her sidestepping him, along with a surprised squeal escaping her throat, she took off towards door, but Daryl was quicker and had longer arms, he grabbed her from behind and around the waist, pulling her giggling frame against his stomach, till her feet lifted off the ground and swinging her around in a 360 spin, her feet found the ground again and he started to tickle her, she was gasping for breath amidst fits of laughter, it was music to his ears, she tried to evade his fingers and turned to face him. He stilled his hands on her waist, Beth was staring up at Daryl breathing hard, his expression darkened, the tip of his tongue darted along his bottom lip, her sight followed the movement and the intake of her breath suddenly hitched. They stood there for a few moments and Beth started to whisper in a huskier voice, "Daryl, if you don't Kis-"

Daryl cut her off, his hands already cupping her face and swiftly bringing their lips together in an earthshattering kiss, Beth moaned into his mouth as her lips parted for him invitingly, Daryl was groaning like a starving man, he backed her up till he had her pinned between him and a wall, a sigh of satisfaction escaping as she felt the extra support behind her, she thought her knees would give out, she clutched the side of his shirt, maybe even part of his torso too, she was not sure, but her knuckles had turned white from clinging to him, so she moved her arms to around his neck, Daryl moaned loudly, his hands moved in to grope her perfect little ass, Beth was whimpering while he assaulted her mouth, passionately meeting his kisses. It was not long till Beth had her long legs wrapped around Daryl hips, Daryl growled like a feral animal, his hands having found better access to her ass as he continued to grope and squeeze and even better his hips were grinding into her throbbing moist crotch, he could feel the heat radiating off her, he had his cock shaft almost perfectly positioned against her slit and was grinding against her clit rhythmically, he could tell he was right on spot by the way she was moaning his name in between kisses, this had his insides melting and him grinding harder and faster through his jeans against her, It could not have been more than a minute and Beth tightened her grip and was shuddering hard against him, letting out a loud guttural moan of his name on her lips, it was the most beautiful thing Daryl had ever heard, it dawned on him she had just reached her apex.

Daryl stilled and was hissing, "Shiiit!", he was breathing hard and erratic and frustrated from the lack of release, but it melted away when he stared into Beth's flushed face, her eyes were a mix of shock and amazement. His hands released her bum and curled around her body to hold her closer, he spoke in a hoarse voice, pressing his forehead to hers, "Beth, I won't be able to stop myself next time… next time there won't be clothes between us, I will tear them off you!" Beth nodded and swallowed, still shuddering from what just happened, slowly unwrapping her stiff legs from his hips, her toes touching the floor, he still held her, her arm shifted around his torso, not wanting to be apart from him, he placed his lips on hers in a gentle kiss this time and broke away a short while later, breaking his hold he spoke while he settled for tucking her into his side, keeping his arm around her, "I think I need a drink" Beth grinned and moved with him toward the backpack, still linked.

Where the bow and bolt laid, Beth stood there relaxed and Daryl serious teacher, _"So now I'll show you how to stand properly, You are right handed, so you will stand with your left shoulder pointing to the target, place your feet together, move your left foot about two inches back, with your left foot take a step sideways towards the target, lastly take you left foot and I want you to twist and point it in the direction of the target, to make it easy for you to understand, think of your foot as the pointer on a clock, it is pointing first at twelve, let it point towards now ten, Perfect that's your footing stance"_ He smiled at her and she did exactly what he instructed.

Daryl demonstrated with his left hand how to hold the bow and Beth watched intently, _"You want to hold the grip so that it fits on that fleshy part just under your thumb, a common mistake that is made is to have the thumb come round and run parallel with your right foot, rather try keep it forward or even in line with your ten o'clock foot, if you don't hold the bow proper your aim will go all over the place. When you hold the bow don't over extend your arm, cause if the string might end up hitting the inside of your arm when you shoot."_ Daryl placed three fingers just below the knocking point, his index to middle, _"when you draw, you have to have what is called an 'anchor', this can be the your jaw, the corner of your mouth, lower part of your cheek, I use the corner of my mouth for this sort of bow, makes aiming easier, you gonna have to be consistent, I say this cause you have to get used to aiming you should not go changing the whole time cause then you'll be off with your aim the whole time, so I suggest you try a couple positions at first, whatever feels more natural. When you draw, you want your back muscles to do most the work, don't let your elbow sag below your shoulder and don't lift it to high neither, everything should be all nicely inline, a 'T' shape."_ Daryl slowly brought the string back into place and placed the bow down. _"I'll show you the release",_ Daryl took his stance again with his imaginary bow, pre drew, then drew, took aim and released the string, the release finger's tip touching the earlobe after, keeping his stance after he pretended to shoot, _"I was taught, you need to gently release the string, somebody told me to release as if I was carrying a pale of water with my three finger and release like I would placing a pale of water on the ground without spilling it." _Daryl showed her the movement a few more times. Beth nodded. _"for aiming, that comes after you anchor your draw, you look down the end of you bolt, down the shaft of your bolt to the point and the point should be aiming on the target."_

Beth was watching him raptly, _"you make it seem so easy, but I'm sure it's completely different and not so easy once the bow is in your hand, will you show me an actual shot?"_ Daryl nodded and picked up the bow and bolt, pointing the bow downwards on a forty-five degree angle, he place the knock on the knocking point and letting the shaft rest on the arrow rest, followed the step, stance, pre-draw, then draw to anchor aim and release, then the follow-through, the bolt was almost on the centre of the target, Beth smiled and Daryl not satisfied picked up another bolt and repeated the steps again the bolt found the target perfectly now. He turned to her, _"Now your turn Blondie, for reals"_

Beth took the bow from Daryl into her Left hand, taking the stance like her showed, she balanced her weight back and forth at first, getting a feel. Then practicing her grip, lifting the bow up and down a little getting used to the weight and feel, she shifted her grip till she felt for what Daryl had meant about that juicy spot under her thumb it sat nicely in just into the crease, nodding to herself, now she was testing the her arm extension and understood what he meant about the string not hitting her arm, but it was only a slight adjustment, next she tested her draw arm, testing the weight of the pull, Beth nodded and drew her arm in the draw movement back and forth keeping hold of the string, replacing the string and preparing to draw thin air in practice, she moved to the release, again practicing the movement with repetition.

Daryl watched her, as all things he had seen Beth do, she was calculating and methodical, she was a quick study and retained the knowledge he had giving her, he figured if she was going to have any problems it would be getting used to drawing with her back, and the release, the release is what threw most people off their aim. Daryl continued to silently watch her and she nodded at him, he picked up a bolt for her, she put the knock to knocking point, Beth followed the steps again, stance, check, the excitement started to build with each step she followed through, grip, check, pre-draw, check, draw, check, her heart beat faster, Beth had to gently ease the string back into its original position, Daryl was confused and Beth started to laugh uncontrollable, cupping her right hand over her mouth, _"Beth what's wrong?"_ Beth raised her right hand for him to stop talking, she took a few deep breaths and regained control, _"I'm sorry Daryl, I just needed to compose myself, I got a little too excited running through the steps, the excitement became a little too much for me, I'll be fine after the first shot, I used to get like this for exams, anytime I put a lot of pressure on myself, I've been known to giggle in the most inappropriate times", _Daryl nodded,_ "Would it help if I turned around the first time", _Beth shook her head, _"Nah, it's not serious like that I'm more like a pressure cooker that needs to blow of a lil steam, I'm fine really, but that was sweet of you to offer, I'm ready now" _

Beth followed the steps quickly, she drew, anchored to the corner of her mouth, she tried a few other places, but Daryl was right the corner of her mouth felt more natural and helped her keep her elbow level. She aimed, following down the bolt, the tip aimed at the centre of the target, she released, the bolt flew and hit just outside the round target landing still on the square target itself, but not inside the target she wanted, Beth grunted in disappointment and Daryl whistled _"good stuff"_ She looked at him in disbelief and Daryl laughed at her, _"Oh Blondie, did you actually think you would hit the target your first time?" _Daryl was actually clapping his hands and laughing at her, _"You're fucking adorable sometimes"_ He pointed at the target not giving her a chance to sass him _"Get to it Blondie"_ Handing her another bolt "_Your release needs to be better, also relax on the grip on the bow, you don't got to hold it so tight, you will find it helps with your aim, you form is good, you're a natural. Now again!"_

Beth set up shot, after shot, after shot, and Daryl kept barking 'again!' at her till they ran out of bolts on the floor, He then ran to the end of the target and collected the bolts, and so the drill restarted, after a while she made it inside the outer circle of the target, Daryl barking _"Nice, now again!",_ they then kept repeating the process, then he was jogging down to the target again collecting bolts. Daryl instructed her to roll her shoulders and neck while he played fetch and so they repeated the process over and over again, after over an hour he instructed her to stop, Beth frowned, and Daryl said it was time to eat, they went outside for fresh air, there was a stray walker but Daryl took care of it with his crossbow quickly. They sat on the steps of the building enjoying the sun and eating the food Daryl had pack for them, it was nice to just sit outside and enjoy the heat, but after sitting there for half an hour they went inside as Beth felt her skin starting to tingle in the direct sunlight.

They laid on the floor of the target room staring up at the ceiling talking more about archery, she asked him about when he was learning, how he got into it, him mentioning something about needing to be alone in his teens and Merle dumping him off at an archery club when he wanted some time alone with ladies, the guy that owned the club owed Merle for some dodgy jobs he did for him. Merle also thought it would be a good manly hobby for him. Beth smiled and they continued chatting, after an hour Daryl helped her up and the continued the practice, Beth joked calling him 'Drill sergeant Dixon', they continued for another hour till Daryl called it quits, Beth gave an 'Awwe' not ready to end and Daryl offered her one more round and told her that her back and arms would be tender tomorrow, on the way out he grabbed all the bows he could find in the store and behind the counter as well as another target for Beth, this time a square target, he looped and tied it to his the back of bike, only part of the point fitted in the saddle bag then rest had to be secured, the stand part he attached to the back of Beth's bike and then they set off home and a relaxing pace which was far too quick for walkers to catch them, they zigzagged through street like they did earlier that morning to throw the walkers off, did not wanting them turning up at their doorstep.

They reached home without minor incident, the target on Daryl's bike had to be re-attached and Beth stabbed a female walker in the eye, Daryl seemed confident that she was capable, he only aimed his crossbow as merely a precaution, he was not taking any chances, he had wanted her to practice taking down walkers without a fence between her and her target. When they had got home, he packed away the bikes placed both bows and bolts on the table downstairs and Beth started to take down the jerky and unhook the paperclips, she was collecting the dried meat in the scoop of her t-shirt and Daryl brought out a container for her to place the pieces in, it did not take long to remove it all and Daryl started unhook the string lines and roll them up for re-used, _"You know Beth, I seen a retractable washing line a few streets away in one of the places I picked, I could unscrew it and replace it back here if you wanted." _Beth smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek, _"You're my hero Mr Dixon"._ Daryl followed her inside and watched her cute ass sway in front of him, she carried the container upstairs and placed it on the counter, grabbing a piece of jerky for them each to try. _"What you think Daryl?"_ Daryl smiled and nodded, _"I like it better without the sweet taste that jerky normally has, it tastes good, what you think?"_ She nodded back, _"Yeah I like it, I know it has good proteins, but I'm thinking you could get thirsty from the all salt, so something to keep in mind, also I'm curious how the shelf life will pan out, I think it's an important factor". _

It was still mid-afternoon when Beth peeled of her shoes and flopped on top of the bed covers lying sideways, the bottom half of her legs dangling over, Daryl followed. They lay side by side staring at the ceiling silently for a while then Daryl asked her about where she had found the box of condoms, Beth blushed, _"At the store when we first came into Woodbury" _Daryl was surprised, "_On day one? Seriously?"_ Beth nodded, _"I recall Maggie saying how hard it was to find them and figured it was valuable", "But why keep them next to the bed Beth, you could have stored them in the pantry?"_ Beth turned her face towards him, _"I like 'like' you Daryl, a girl can hope and I rather be prepared"_ He turned to face her too, _"I was not kidding earlier Beth, I won't be able to stop next time, so think about that before you poke the bear." _She turned to stare at the ceiling again, _"Don't worry about that Daryl Dixon, I thought about it plenty"_ Daryl starred at her profile for a few moments and saw she was being serious, then turned to stare at the ceiling, he reached for her hand and clasped her fingers softly. Half an hour later they were both breathing deeper, Beth was now laying on her side with her knees curled up and Daryl curled up behind her, with a possessive arm draped over her.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Eleven-_**


	11. Chapter 11

It was a three days later, Beth and Daryl had left the safety of their new home and cycled to the prison first, there were less walkers around, but still too risky to venture too close. There was no sign of anybody, Beth waited as Daryl snuck off his bike towards one of the walls and started to use a can of orange spray paint " Hershel's Murderer's place", Beth frowned reading her father's name, when he was climbing back onto his back a couple stray walkers had started to walk toward them, so they quickly set off again, both continued down the road which the bus would have supposedly taken. Beth asked, _"why ' Hershel's murderer's place' ?", _Daryl replied, _"Can't give up our location in case unfriendlies find it and come looking for us, needed something only our group would know_", Beth nodded satisfied with his answer.

The guess to finding the bus paid off, but what they found was anything but rewarding, they approached carefully on foot, the back door was ajar and Beth knocked on the door and Daryl had his crossbow ready to shoot, there was no sound. Beth pulled the door open wider and a corpse dropped out, Beth recognised one of the Woodbury folk, she climbed into the bus and Daryl followed quickly behind, they checked the dead bodies, some were dead walkers some were just people that had gotten killed before turning. Beth stumbled out the bus a few minutes later, bending over for air, Daryl was at her side, his hand on her back, she straightened, Daryl was sure she would have been crying, but she had no tears in her eyes, she pressed herself to him for a hug and he held her close while she whispered in his ear, "I'm feel so guilty, cause I feel is relief, they were part of the prison, but they were not 'our' people, Daryl", He squeezed her tighter to him in understanding, she breathed in his smell and sighed her body relaxing against him.

They were back on the road for a couple more hours till they entered into a small suburban area, Daryl suggested that they should stop there for the night if it was relatively safe, so they decided on a quick walk around the neighbourhood, hiding their bikes behind a garage in a back yard, they continued from there on foot. They passed about nine houses when Beth spotted Michonne's shirt hanging on the washing line, "Pssst!", she pointed and they quietly moved towards it, Beth whispered, "Daryl, its Michonne's, I recognise it." Daryl looked at the house and move suspiciously towards the back porch, through the glass panel on the top half of the door, there he saw a dead body, it was down the hall lying face down at what looked to be the bottom of a staircase. He slowly slipped in, and Beth was surprised he did not tap, she knew something was different.

The house was quiet, and Beth followed him silently with her knife ready in hand, they cleared the bottom floor, looked like a few people had been there, there was all sorts of mixed prints, Daryl came back around to the bottom of the stairs and checked the body, it had recently become a walker, Daryl saw no bite marks, he went up the stairs and had a look around, Beth still following closely, they got to the bathroom and Daryl noted the open window with a man's boot prints on the sill leading out onto the roof, he recognised it almost instantly, Daryl pointed Beth to it and whispered, "it's Ricks", Beth looked excited, she noted the mess of the bathroom, clearly a struggle had taken place in there, slowly a picture formed and Beth voiced it, "You think Rick killed that guy down there and snuck out the window?" Daryl nodded, "I think so, let's check outside for tracks".

They were outside and Daryl saw where the tracks started, the shuffling sideways prints and the little further a fresh cigarette butt, Rick did not smoke, he must have been hiding, then the prints seemed to leap forward into deep indentation indicating a jog or run, they met up with two smaller sets, they all set off in a run, Daryl pointed the direction, close by Daryl noted, five more large prints following into the same direction. Beth broke his concentration, "What do you see Daryl?", he explained pointing what he saw to Beth, she was in admiration of him, it really was clever how he could see that, and now that he was explaining it to her, it made more sense and she saw what he meant, she looked up curiously in question, "the smaller sets with Ricks, Michonne's and another women?" Daryl shook his head , "Nah, it Carl's, I know that cocky footprints anywhere.", Beth became excited "Oh my god Daryl, that's three of our people that has made it out." Daryl had a pensive look on his face and Beth stilled watching, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, "what is it Daryl?" "There's five sets following them, you can tell they are being tracked, here and by this set here, I recognise it, it's how I sit on my haunches for closer look, not placing my heels on the ground." She was worried "oh jeez!, now what? Daryl we can't set up camp tonight we got to keep moving and catch up with them". He nodded in agreement. They made there way back to their bikes quickly, Daryl laying out a plan how they were going to track them on the bikes. The direction of all the tracks were following the rail line, that's when they saw the sign for a sanctuary called terminus, it gave Beth a bad feeling in her stomach. If rick's group were only a couple days ahead they could catch up quickly, Daryl figured they were heading to the sanctuary.

Beth and Daryl were grateful for the full moon, it gave them some light to cycle along the path that ran next to the rail tracks, Daryl had attached a small light to the front of his bike, to make sure they did not ride into any potholes. They stopped after a few hours and moved to the top of the rails, climbing the rail embankment, they would hear walkers if that tried to climb up as stones made a bit of noise. They rested for a short nap for roughly three hours, Daryl assumed was about five am, they had a quick bite and were on the track again, Beth asked him the question, _"It's obvious we will reach the five men first Daryl, what's the plan?"_ Daryl slowed his speed and stopped till she was next him, _"I thought about this a bit, but I don't have a solution, I can't say what they will be like, but I'll guess Rick killed their friend and they are pretty pissed wanting revenge, that tracker knows a women is with rick, that won't bode well, if groups are all male most the time the women is passed around like a piece of meat, I'm assuming the worst and so should you, those sorts usually prey on weak and would usually only accept liked minded sorts, I want you to imagine rough lots, worse than Merle, there are more bad people out there than good, when the time comes Beth you make sure to aim well with the bow, I don't wanna put you in danger, but I know as it is our family you would push me do something, we are gonna have to play it by ear." _Beth nodded in agreement, she was with him all the way. she placed her hand on his cheek _"You're a good man Daryl Dixon, I care about you, we all care about you"_ Beth leaned up and kissed him affectionately, Daryl had ever been kissed that way before, it was a sweet kiss, something else, this was definitely different and it made his chest tighten, when they broke the kiss, Beth smiled up with sparkling eyes Daryl whispered, _"I care about you too… and everybody else too"_ Beth let out a cheerful chuckle. _"You better and no heroics either Mr Dixon, I got some plans and can't have you messing them up."_ He raised an eyebrow, _"Oh yeah, that so?"_ She smirked, _"Yeah, you promised me a retractable washing line and as well as some other things that need taking care of."_ Daryl chuckled and started onwards again. _"Well, yes mam!"_

It was mid-morning when Beth asked to stop she was wanting to hop into the bushes to relieve herself, she was buttoning her pants when a rough pairs arms snaked around her, one hand with dirty fingers covered her mouth and foul breath could be smelt over her shoulder, it turned her stomach, the other hand started groping her breasts and cupping her crotch, a sinister voice laughed into her ears. "Your Len's little pet now, I'm gonna fuck you six ways from Sunday", Beth did the only thing she could and bit down on the Len's hand and headbutted his face hard with the back of her head, she was sure she heard the bone in his nose break, he cried out in pain breaking his hold and this gave her the chance to run. Beth was fast and when she tore out of the treeline, Daryl knew something was wrong, he already had his crossbow in hand and hers ready to grab when she was next to him.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Twelve-_**


	12. Chapter 12

Len came out the treeline spitting blood from his mouth and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Daryl and Beth aiming their bows at him. Len also had his own bow in hand and was about to raise it when Beth spoke in controlled anger, _"uh, uh uhh, I wouldn't do that you worthless prick!"_ Daryl was surprised at Beth, but hid it well. Len halted his bow movement, surprised at the malice in her voice, but chose to voice his opinion to Daryl instead, _"That bitch is mine, she belongs to me, hand her over, don't be interfering none mister!". _Beth hissed out _"Bitch? Who you calling bitch? I ain't belong to you, this is my husband and last I check I belong to him."_ Daryl felt an odd feeling when she called him her husband, he did not see that one coming, but she stood there all confident and that gave him a boost of conviction and a certain cool about him. Her stance was calm, but he could feel her waves of anger rolling off her smaller frame, he did not think he ever seen her fume like this and he had a feeling that he was just going to have to go along for the ride.

Daryl's mouth was gaping when Beth sunk the bolt into Len's upper leg, he was screaming in pain alerting everything to their whereabouts _"Bethie?! You shot him."_ Beth placed another bolt in her bow, _"Actually I missed Daryl, I was aiming for his crotch, he took liberties and groped me with his disgusting, filthy hands - all over my body like a piece of fucking fruit in the supermarket, then he told me he was gonna fuck me six ways from Sunday, what a pig!" _Daryl felt himself get angry hearing how another man was touching her, was it jealousy, however before he had a chance to figure that out, there were four more men now on the treeline and Beth was not sure which one to aim at. The grey haired man in his mid-fifties stepped forward, she aimed for him, _"Who took the shot? why?"_ She spoke with assertiveness, _"hardly a shot when I missed his fucking balls, I don't like to be touched!"_ the leader seemed amused and turned to whining Len, looking at the bolt, _"Will you shut the fuck up Len, you're alerting every Zombie out there, it's not so bad, stop being such a pussy, she missed your balls, I think you're lucky, another eight centimetres would have left you out of business"_ , Len whined, clearly annoyed, _"But Joe!"_ , Joe glared at him and Len looked down and griped his injured leg tightly and pulled the bolt, he was about to snap the wooden bolt in frustration when Beth yelled at Len, _"Hey asshole! You want me to shoot you in your 'junk' proper this time?, if you snap my bolt, I promise I won't miss again!"_ , Daryl eyes narrowed wondering how this would go, he watched Joe, he was obviously the leader of the group, he turned and spoke to Daryl, _"This your daughter?"_ , Daryl smiled proudly, _"Nah, she ain't my daughter, she's my wife",_ Joe smirked, _"A bit young, no?"_ Beth snapped out, _"I appreciate the compliment, but I'm older than and I look and it's really none of your damn business"_ Joe looked at Daryl and whistled, "_She's a prickly one",_ Daryl smirked playing along, _"You have no idea, it's best to stay clear of her temper, it's a hot one."_ Joe nodded, he could 'respect' a women with spit, provided she pulled her weight and did not cause problems, _"So you both use the bow, I see"_ Daryl nodded and Joe seemed to be weighing options in his head, Beth realised that they had not tried to kill them yet and it became obvious that people with a talent or ability were vetted, most likely to join the group, so she smoothly added, _"Daryl is the real bowman here, best hunter around, but then I'm biased, aren't I honey?", _She kept her aim trained on Joe and Daryl a grunt in agreement,_ "..I'm merely a novice compared to him."_ Joe eyes zeroed in on her, first time addressing her directly, _"Is that so, pretty good for a novice then, what is you do then little lady?"_ Beth gave him a sweet smile, _"I'm a pretty decent cook and I make some mean ass jerky" _Beth hesitated and glared at Len in disgust, Joe caught this_, "And I've been known to dabble a little in the healing" _Joe nodded, seeming pleased with the skillset standing in front of him and asked more questions, _"Where were ya'll headed?" _Daryl spoke, _"Terminus"._

Joe shook his head, and spoke seriously, _"I consider myself the unsavoury type, but those folk, thems are a different breed, you and your lil lass end up there, it would be a terrible way to punch out."_ Daryl frowned, _"Why is that?"_ Joe continued, _"My boys and I scoped that place out for about two months, it looked like a good set up or even the intent of picking it clean, we seen new people go in, never seen anybody but the regulars come out and that was rare, they rarely hunted, but the bbq was always going there, you could smell the meat cooking, you folks understand what I'm getting at?"_ Beth nose crinkled up in distaste, _"Surely not, those terminus posters are all over"_ Daryl went rigid knowing Rick's group was headed that way. Joe nodded, his men nodded in unison and Joe went on saying _"So you will take your chances with us, we have rules we follow, you stick by em, then we don't got no problem."_ Daryl pulled his face in question, _"I have a few questions first?"_ Joe seemed surprised he was hardly giving Daryl the choice, but humoured him all the same, was better to lure bees with honey rather than vinegar after all, _"Yeah, those are?",_ _"Firstly, I don't trust your men to keep their filthy paws off my wife, I'm a jealous man and I feel mighty protective over Beth. What's ya'll purpose or you wonder around aimlessly? And lastly, what are these rules you mentioned?"  
_

Joe seemed satisfied with the questions, they were harmless enough. _"Well your first part does not seem like a question, but I see what you're getting at, but seems to me you got no need to worry about your missus, she seems like she can take care of herself, but she is off limits all the same, you hear that boys, Beths off limits!" _There was grumbles,Joe had made the 'law' and what Joe said went. He continued_ "For now we are looking for a piece of shit that killed Len's brother Lou, Len won't settle without settling his score, the stranger killed Lou then left him to turn and attack us. There is three tracks and they heading to terminus. And the Rules: In our group we don't lie to one another, we don't steal from one another, it punishable by beating or depending on the severity of the lie or the situation, sometimes death. We have to lay 'claim' to things, so if you walk by a tree and there is a peach you say claimed and its yours, that simple."_

Daryl nodded and Beth stared, just like that beth thought, and now we have made it into Joe's group. It was certainly a lot easier than tracking Joe's group from behind and they could now hear the plan for how they would catch rick's group and put a spanner in the works somehow. Daryl watched Beth, she still had her bow on aimed, but on Len who was staring at her in malice, Beth flashed him an evil smile full threats. Daryl was inwardly proud of Beth he couldn't believe they pulled off this charade, but truthfully she took it in her stride. Daryl pushed his crossbow over his shoulder and pulled Beth into him for a hug, he was smiling down at her, _"You still pissed Ms Dixon?"_ It was a question that had double meaning, obviously to do with herself calling him her husband, Beth gave him a cheeky grin her anger fading, _"Depends Mr Dixon, you plan to kiss it all better?"_ Daryl eyes darkened possessively, whoever was watching them would clearly see Daryl marking 'his' territory, he leaned his face down to hers kissing her firmly and she melted into him, she knew that Daryl threw the kiss in for extra show, but she knew he was into it too, she could feel the fires being stoked, despite their current situation. He broke the kiss and teasingly added, _"Claimed",_ Beth punched his arm and Daryl lifted his arms in surrender, _"Too soon?"_ Beth pretended to be mad at him. _"Watch it!"_

Joe turned and walked back to his men, obviously sold on the story, before he turned to Beth again, _"So how about fixing your new 'friend' Len up?"_, Beth nodded at Joe, _"Sure, cause you asked me so nicely, but if he tries anything stupid, I will gut him like a pig and I promise I'm much handier with my hunting knife, than the bow."_ Daryl was laughing quietly as Beth reached into her bag for a med kit she had put together, she yelled over at Len, _"I ain't got all day princess, daylights wasting!"_ Joe was smirking. Len was about to start limping towards her when she yelled again, _"Be a 'darl' and bring my bolt along with you, if your quick about it, I might take mercy on your sorry ass and give you a 'painkiller'"_ Daryl had no idea where this mean streak in her was coming from, part of him liked that she had it in her when needed. Len was grumbling and Daryl sat getting comfy on the tracks about three metres from Beth, leaning against their packs, while eating a piece of jerky.

The other men had gone to pack up and collect all the group's belongings, Joe and Len staying behind, Joe came and sat next Daryl, now was the time for Daryl to work his way into Joes good graces, they each had their part to play. Daryl offered Joe a small piece of jerky from his bag, Joe smiled and started chewing on it, _"Hey, this is really good, this Beth's jerky?"_ Daryl nodded, _"Yup"_. They both sat there watching Beth verbally push Len around some more. Beth handed Len a painkiller for menstruation, as she had promised, Len was looking at it funny_, "These aren't any painkillers I ever seen"_ Beth smirked, _"No I guess you would not have seen this kinds"_ Len swallowed it and then asked, _"What sort are they?"_ Beth shook her head as she started to first inspect his nose, _"Doesn't matter none Len, it will work, I've taken them myself on a regular bases in the past, Your nose is broken"_ Without warning she yanked and pushed on his nose quickly and set into place without telling him, Len was yelping in pain, his eyes tearing up. _"Relax, worst part is over.", _she handed him a wet cloth and told him to hold it to his nose. Daryl lifted his bow off his lap while his eyes followed the sound of rustling and growling coming out the treeline, lifting his bow and aiming effortlessly, he shot a walker straight in the eye without even standing up, Joe was impressed, Daryl without even acknowledging the walker went back to chewing on his jerky, he would collect the bolt when they got up to continue their journey.

Beth preceded to ask Len if she would be cutting his pants off or would he be saving her the trouble by removing them, Len seemed to grumble and complain a bit, and Beth retorted some glib remark about him having no problem wanting to get naked with her earlier, this seemed to irritate him, he removed his pants and Beth cleaned the wound with some vodka, must have hurt because Len's face was contorted and he was hissing, after that she got out the needle and thread and started stitching him up, she covered up the wound using the bandages she had ripped a couple weeks back from sheets. _"Right Len, I'm gonna lay my cards on the table, cause I have a feeling Joe wants us to play nice, this is the first and last time I'm fixing anything inflicted by myself or Daryl, cause you were doing wrong by us, I'm gonna stop provoking you with my smart ass comments, cause my ego is not so bruised no more by how you treated me and I feel you've suffered enough, so just to prove I'm being genuine I give you a valuable peace offering, I got two more of those pills for you, for later and the morning, a'ight we're done here"_, Joe looked at Daryl overhearing Beth's little speech and subtly nodded with approval followed by a 'suggestion' towards Len in the background, _"Say thanks to the lady"_, Len reluctantly did as he was told. Beth went on to tell him it would heal faster if he stayed off his leg, Len complained about how was he supposed to do that when they were trying to catch up to Lou's killer, following Daryl's lead of pretending to be a team player and because she was eager to catch up with Rick's group herself, especially before they made it to terminus, she suggested that he use her bike over the next couple days, she showed him how, by sitting on the seat as normally, resting the injured leg on a pedal, using the good leg that easily reached the ground to pull him along, like a kid would do on a skateboard. Len actually offered a genuine nod of acceptance, better than nothing Beth thought to herself, in a couple days she suspected that when they finally caught up to Rick, the shit would hit the proverbial fan, it was either going be her family still standing or Joe's group, there was no way around this situation and she knew it, she would most likely be killing at least one of these men in Joe's group, but she had already accepted this fact and was ready, but for now she just needed Len and the rest of those losers to leave her be and if she had to make a sacrifice for the bigger picture, so be it. Joe on the other had seemed relaxed and content with his new 'recruits', no clue as to what was simmering in the undercurrents.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Thirteen-_**


	13. Chapter 13

The men came back with the belongings and the group set off, they even picked up the pace, Joe reckoned that rick's group was less than half a day ahead of them, Beth and Daryl were feeling anxious about how the whole situation would pan out. From what they gathered so far Joe's group planned on punishing Rick's group first and would finish them off after. The group stopped an hour before sundown, Daryl took Beth out into the forest to go hunting, no way he was going to leave her alone with those animals, again like their first day after the prison attack, Daryl went tracking rabbit, he found some tracks then hoisted Beth up a tree again, this time he followed her up and Beth stayed quiet as possible, the rabbit hole was below them and he knew a rabbit would come back to it burrow before nightfall, what Daryl did not count on was a young deer to stumble across their path, Daryl did not waist time using his crossbow, killing the animal quickly.

He climbed down the tree first and she followed, he helped her down the last part, more so that he could feel his hands on her body, over that last couple weeks they had a lot of physical contact and today they had hardly any and it was making Daryl irritable. Instead of letting go after he helped her down, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, she kissed him back hungrily, he had her up against the tree, Beth hands were in his hair and he was holding her so tight, like he was afraid to lose her, the kiss ended tenderly and Daryl whispered against her bruised lips _"I've missed you Beth", _she smiled back at him, understanding his need, she felt it too, _"I've missed you too". _A twig snapped to the side of them, both their heads snapped in the direction and there was one of Joe's men watching them, he was the youngest in Joe's group, they called him Billy, possibly around the age of thirty. Beth growled at him, _"yah mama, never tell you it's rude to sneak up on people and perv at them?",_ Billy ignored her comment and seemed annoyed as he spoke _"Ah man! I was really wondering if ya'll was a real couple, or was it just for show, I just lost the bet I had going with one of the guys, Tony"_ Beth glared at him, _"Serves you right for interfering in other people's private business."_ Daryl was pissed off and Beth could feel it, She reluctantly separated from him, slipping her hand in his and pulling into the direction of the deer, Billy just stood there watching with his beady little eyes no intention of leaving them alone, Beth and Daryl took to the young deer, leaving the skin and bits they would not eat behind. To lighten Daryl's mood, Beth made a comment only Daryl could hear, comparing their unwanted guest to a bad smell that just would not go away. Daryl smirked and winked up at her and replied only for her ears, that Billy ironically did actually smell quite bad, Beth could not help the snort of laughter coming out her mouth. Hearing Beth laugh lifted Daryl's mood.

They walked back to camp with the small deer on Daryl's back, Billy following behind them from a distance, Beth and Daryl cooked their diner, taking turns, the group seemed surprised when they shared the meat out evenly with everybody, obviously not used to sharing a meals. Beth felt 'the every man for themselves' environment was just to odd, when they were at the prison they always shared everything evenly, it's what created the community and the family environment, if you did not have that, what was this point, Daryl was also having this train of thought, he really did pity them, it made him miss their family, but kept his thoughts to himself. After dinner Beth curled up next to Daryl by the fire, they watched the others interact, it was not long till they figured the group dynamic, Billy and Tony were setting an 'alarm' around there camp's perimeter, it was obvious they were the younger in the group, you could say almost friends, they were pushed around most by the other members, Tony and Len you could tell tolerated each other, but it was clear there was bad blood between the two, Tony was in his mid-thirties. Dan was a fat man in his Forties with a balding patch on the top of his head and was Joe's closest second, followed by Len. Dan was quiet and seemed to get on with most in the group, Beth felt there was something off about him, more so than the rest of the group of bandits, but could not quite put her finger on it.

Everybody was settled around the fire, Tony was looking at Beth and Daryl curiously, not surprising as Joe's group did not have many new people to talk to often, was not long till he started to pry. "So, what ya'll do before the zombies?" Daryl answered, "Before the walkers, I worked in a shop fixing cars and bikes" Tony looked at Beth, "What about you?" Beth looked up surprised, "To be honest, I was kind of still trying to figure out what I wanted to do, worked a bit on my daddy's farm, was good with animals, just like my daddy, he taught me a lot about being a vet and farming, I actually enjoyed it" Tony nodded, the rest of the men were watching the fire, just listening, it made Beth nervous have the focus on them, but Daryl seemed relaxed, Tony continued, "How you two meet?" Daryl answered for them, "It's like this, Beth came from a family on the 'right' side of town, and me well I'm a rough redneck through and through. Coming from the next town over, she used to get up to mischief with her girlfriends." Beth grinned up at Daryl, finding his story amusing, deciding to chip in here and there to make it more plausible, Beth chimed in, "What he means is that I respect my daddy too much to be causing a ruckus in my own town, so the girls and I would drive out to the bar in the next town over, God I used to love to dance and sometimes the live band would let me sing a tune here and there." Daryl had to smile, the story seemed to come to life and Daryl now took his turn to build on the story further, "Beth was up on stage and I was at the bar nursing a drink, she started singing with that angelic voice of hers and I guess I was hooked." Beth chuckled and followed on, "Only I never knew he existed until one of the other drunk patrons started catcalling on me, Daryl yelled for him to 'shut the fuck up and let the lady sing', fight ensued and Daryl and the other drunk got kicked out, girls and I decided to call it a night." Daryl chuckled, "Yeah I got a split lip without even knowing her name, she recognised me in the carpark and came up to say thank you and well the rest is what you call history" Beth beamed up at Daryl and Billy asked a question now. "So how old are yah then Beth, cause you only look barely eighteen", Beth smiled sweetly, continuing the role she had picked "Awwe now Billy that's a kind thing to say, every women wants to hear she looks younger than she is, If I got my months correct, I turned twenty-six a couple weeks back, met Daryl not even a year before the world turned to shit." Billy asked another question. "But you said you guys are married?" Daryl took it on himself to answer, deciding to throw a little bit of drama, everybody seemed interested in their story, maybe to poke holes in it, "Yeah, we are, give yah the short version, Bethie finds it a bit difficult to talk about" Beth looked as Daryl surprised at this new twist in the story, wondering where he was planning to go with it, so she waited with baited breath and Daryl continued, this time telling the story to her as he watched her face. "Beth and I had been seeing one another for about six months, I knew I would never be good enough for her and knew her family would not approve, but I could not stay away from her, she stole a heart I never thought I had, and when she told me she was pregnant" Beth was barely breathing and Daryl was staring deep into her eyes, just like everybody else she was hooked on his every sentence like she was reliving the moment in her head, "I was shit scared, we got married in secret, never thought I would ever get married, but life has a funny way of sneaking up on yah, went round to meet her family for Sunday lunch and we told them we were in love, her daddy left the table came back with a shotgun, Beth was screaming 'Daddy no' until she blurted out that we were married and expecting a baby, family is mighty important to Beth." Beth was breathing a little ragged still staring at Daryl and everybody was watching the two of them. Joe interrupted. "well he did not kill yah, what happened then?" Daryl continued and gave her a soft genuine smile, there was no pretending there and that made her heart skittle along in her chest, the next part was the truth, "Well we became family, I got along with her daddy after a while, respected him a great deal, cared for him like he was my own father" A couple tears rolled down Beth's cheek. "The walkers took over, later a difficult birth then we had baby girl in the family to take care of" Beth could not help whispering Judith's name and Daryl wiped the stray tears away from Beth's cheek, she gave him a strong brave smile. "Beth is a fierce mama bear… we don't really know what happened to Judith, she got lost with a rest of our family when a herd came through, seems like a lifetime ago, just been Beth and myself ever since" Everybody stared quietly into the fire for what seemed like ages, obviously contemplating their own past lives or families. Daryl had not planned to add that last part, it kind of just happened, it was the truth after all.

Beth and Daryl both decided to call it a night, Daryl set their sleeping bag together, using there packs as pillows, while Beth went to hand Len another painkiller, he actually thanked her this time and she nodded and moved back to Daryl, slipping her shoes off and sliding inside, Daryl did the same and wrapped his arm around her, when he heard her breathing even out, he started to doze into a light sleep, he would wake up every now and then, taking a subtle look around them, everybody was napping except tony, he was on first watch, then Billy and finally Dan had volunteered last watch. All was calm it seemed, Daryl continued to drift in and out of a shallow sleep.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Fourteen-_**


	14. Chapter 14

They were all up and back on the trail early the next morning, Joe was eager to get the Rick business sorted, Beth and Daryl too, but obviously not for the same reasons, the were excited to see their family, but afraid of the outcome, but they also knew that it was inevitable, at least now Rick's group had a better chance of surviving. They were making good progress and knew by the evening they would catch.

Joe's group was hiding in the treeline watching Rick's group around a small fire about hundred metres away, Joe's group were whispering on how they were going to approach, Len was complaining that he still could not walk properly and would make a noise as he limped through the forest toward Rick's group. Beth had an idea and was thinking how to pull it off, and she started off the conversion towards the group, _"Len's right, you need to have the element of surprise, can't go crashing in, also guns are noisy and you don't want to attract a bunch of walkers in the process. "_, All the men nodded in agreement, in was a sensible comment and to 'help' solve the problem, she casually added, _"If it's easier, I could help Len? He can lean on me, we follow you guys from behind, not to ruin your surprise, I would prefer to have somebody to cover Len and my ass from behind, if I'm helping him I'll won't be in the position to take out a walkers." _Daryl was watching Beth wondering what she had up her sleeve, Joe piped up, _"Daryl, you think you can cover your wife's ass?"_ Daryl nodded and was not really liking the idea, Joe noticed his expression and misinterpreted it and then added, _"Don't worry Daryl, you'll make it to party", _He would have preferred to be there to control the situation from the beginning, but Beth had a pleased smile on her face and she winked at him. They stood up, the men quietly got ready, getting out their knives and leaving any bulky stuff behind, Daryl was storing the bikes a little away from them, the brush was too thick for the bikes, Beth came up to Daryl and slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug, she started to whisper her plan softly in his ear, _"I have an idea, I overheard Len is decent with a bow, even with his messed up leg, I want better odds in our favour, I was thinking as we get closer, we lag behind the other men, as they get closer they will be more excited and focussed on what's in front than what's going on behind them, I can't believe I'm asking you this… but I want you to put a bolt into the back of Len's head… then we move up to join the others and start picking them off, it will be one down and with only four left, I like those odds better."_ Daryl was surprised that Beth had even asked, he never thought she would have it in her, but went to show how far she had grown and how serious she took the situation, the old Beth would have been more 'forgiving', he wondered if it was his cutthroat attitude rubbing off on her too much, but now was not the time to dwell on this, it was actually quite calculating plan, but then Daryl never came up with the plan, relaxed a bit more, nah this was all Beth, she would do anything to protect the people she loved, she had obviously weighed the situation and relised this was the only way, she was right, but he still felt anxious, _"Don't worry Daryl, they won't kill them, they want to have a bit of 'fun', it's all they been talking about"_ She moved back a little to stare at him and he leaned down and kissed her desperately, his hands groping her ass and pulling her closer against him, a soft contented moan escaped her lips.

A few minutes later, Len limped difficulty towards them, hissing at them in a whisper, _"Lovebirds, packs on the move, let's go"_ Beth moved away from Daryl reluctantly, last thing she wanted was Len to touch her, but this was a good plan and the evil man would be dead soon and for good. Beth winked at Daryl over her shoulder and he smiled back. Len happily Slipped his arm around Beth shoulder and tucked her tightly against him, Beth realised now why Len never objected to Beth helping him walk, he was dying to have any excuse to touch her, she even noticed he sniffed her a few times and it made her stomach turn, Daryl noticed too, he had seen it all and it had his blood boiling that Len had his hands on Beth, with each step Daryl starting to feel relief and excitement building, knowing he would get to keep Len's disgusting hands off Beth permanently. Beth concentrated instead on the way ahead and slowed the pace a little, Len did not mind, it was easier on his leg and it gave him longer time to sniff Beth's sweet feminine smell, he knew that the guys would wait for him before actually starting, the other men disappeared further ahead and Beth had estimated that were about forty metres away from Rick's camp, the others about thirty metres ahead her, the dense trees gave a bit of cover, Beth took a deep breath, her arm around Len's back gestured a 'thumb's up' to Daryl, she slowed her step so that Daryl's aim would be better.

Beth realised Daryl had taken the shot when she felt the other man's body lean and sag against her, she let it quietly fall to the ground. Daryl handed Beth her bow that had been slung on his back and he grabbed his bolt from the back on Len's head before they quickly moved forward to catch up with the others, when they reached the treeline, Joe's group had weapons out both guns and knives, they were pointing it at Rick, Carl and Michonne. They must have had no ammo left in their guns because they were reluctantly surrendering to Joe. Dan was already dragging Carl across the ground and carl was yelling, causing Rick and Michonne to become agitated, all the other mean seemed to be cheering Dan on and Beth had a sinking feeling as they came out the treeline. Joe's group was too busy watching Dan trying to pull on the back of Carl pants with the intention of pulling them down, Carl must have realised what Dan had in mind and started to scream, Rick was moving forward to protect carl and Michonne the same, Tony Restrained Michonne from behind, Joe and Billy started to lay punches into Rick, Daryl sunk a bolt into Dan's head, he slumped over Carl body pinning him there, the others were too busy focussed on Rick and Michonne, they were the bigger threat, at least they thought so. Beth sunk her own bolt into Tony's back because she was not confident with her aim and the bow's penetration strength, Tony released Michonne Briefly and turned around to see where the pain had originated from and seemed confused when he turned to see Beth loading another bolt into her bow and plunging another bolt into his chest, Michonne did not look around to see where the help came from she took the opportunity to reach for her katana on the ground and used it to finish on Tony off. Daryl had sunk a bolt into Joe back, Joe turned to look at Daryl in surprise, while trying to reach his arm back to pull at it, Rick only had one man to deal with now and he took to billy like a man possessed, causing billy to stumble backwards and Rick moved to kicking him, and finished him off by stomping on his face. Beth had moved towards Carl, and rolled Dan's limp body over and pulled a whimpering Carl into her arms, his face was buried in her chest as she rocked him in a soothing motion, back and forth like she used to do with Judith, while she repeated in her soothing tone, _"Your safe, it's okay",_ Carl clung to her small frame for dear life.

Joe was the only one left alive and Daryl was standing in front of him with his bow, Rick and Michonne were flabbergasted to see Daryl and Beth there. They watched the whole conversation unfold between Daryl and Joe and Joe looked betrayed and was speaking all confused, "I thought you and your wife were one of us!?" Daryl decided to humour Joe, _"We were never one of you's"_ He even spat at one of the Joe's fallen companions in disgust, _"We knew exactly who you were, saw the house with the struggle, the tracks, realised it was our family, we were tracking you and figured you were tracking them, it was on accident Len found and tried to rape MY women! Beth, she is smart and figured out how you vetted people with a certain skillset into your group, you welcomed us and we did not need to track you anymore, just needed to wait for the right moment, you tried to fuck with our family Joe, and I'm sure I speak for Beth when I say, You're a vile man Joe, the rest of your men were too, Dan tried to rape that boy, it's sickening!… Just rot in hell"_ With that finality Daryl sunk his bolt into Joe's eye.

Daryl did not even wait for Joe's body to hit the ground, he was already moving towards Beth and kneeling in front of her, curling a loose stray strand behind her ear and stroking her cheek with his thumb, _"You okay?",_ She smiled with relief _"I'm good, glad that's over. Emotionally he is not so good."_ Indicating to Carl, Daryl nodded and got up moved towards Rick and Michonne, they both were taken back by the whole situation and still processing. Rick and Daryl embraced and Daryl spoke first, _"Sorry we took so long man, we had to take care of a man in the bushes."_ Rick nodded, _"I'm just so glad to see you! Sounds like you guys have had quite a ride yourselves"_, Daryl smirked and hugged Michonne too, her eyes wide at Daryl's contact, _"You have no idea"_ Daryl Finished, Rick had moved to his son and sat down next to Beth, pulled the younger man into his arms and speaking in a softer voice, _"They are all gone and never coming back, you okay?"_ Carl sniffed and hugged his father tight. Beth got up and went to greet Michonne with a hug. Michonne grinned at Beth, _"You're a sight for sore eyes.. and Gurl!, you went and got yourself a weapon, the bow too?"_ Beth Blushed, _"Yeah, Daryl's idea"_ Beth Reached for her bolts still attached to Tony's body and pulled them out, Daryl did the same speaking over his shoulder, _"And she's a natural, actually Beth's a natural at most things". _Michonne eyed Daryl and Beth curiously, something had changed.

They all moved around Rick and Carl, Carl was now sitting close to his father, his eyes still swollen and dry from his tears, he was quiet. Daryl was looking around and spoke first, _"We should probably start moving on, walkers may have got pulled in this direction from the noise"_ Rick answered, _"We were headed to a sanctuary"_ Daryl replied, _"Yeah Naah!, you don't wanna go to Terminus, that place it bad news"_ Rick and Michonne looked confused and Daryl continued "_Place is bad news, promises safety, but only for those already living there, new people get used for the bbq." _This seemed to bring Carl out of his silence, _"What?"_ Beth elaborated on Daryl's sentence, _"Joes men weren't lying to Daryl and I when they told us about Terminus, Joe told a story about how they scoped the place out for about two months, said new people came, the regulars would rarely hunt or leave the place, but the bbq was always cooking meat, you could smell it his said. I believe him, I'm usually good at picking out a lie."_ Daryl agreed, _"Beth's right, I believe too"_, Beth added after, _"I'm just worried about those signs all over luring innocent folks, we need to do something about them."_

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Fifteen-_**


	15. Chapter 15

The group had quickly picked the bodies clean of weapons, Despite the bruising from the beating Rick had endured he was feeling better than he had in weeks, both he and Carl now had new weapons with some ammo, it made him feel much more secure. Snuffing out the fire they moved away from the camp, towards Beth and Daryl's packs. Beth got out her first aid kit and got Rick fixed up Daryl sat down next to Beth, she was checking to make sure he did not have any serious injuries when Rick blurted out, _"Do you know what happened to Judith?"_ Beth hands stilled above Rick, she felt uncomfortable and guilty, Daryl leaned in closer to Beth for support, slipping his arm around her back and resting it on her hip, the others noticed this subtle gesture and watched on curiously, Beth eyes started to water and she looked Rick in the eyes, _"I'm sorry Rick"_ Rick took this as worst case scenario, he shoulders sagged almost defeated, and Daryl added, _"The carseat was empty Rick, Beth and I were the last to leave the prison"_, Carl interrupted from behind them, _"So you did not see what happened to Judy?"_ Beth shook her head, _"There was only the seat, the bus had left, it was complete chaos"_, Carl smiled for the first time since they had all reunited, _"Well if you did not see what actually happened, somebody could have picked her up?"_ Daryl nodded, _"Yeah, it's a possibility, that's what I said to Beth"_ Rick shoulders relaxed a little and he seemed to take the new information in and nodded. Rick had suffered mainly from bruising and swelling with a few small cuts and Beth had fixed and cleaned his cuts best she could and gave him an ibuprofen.

It was Daryl that suggested they needed to go through all the packs that were left behind, even if it meant going through those vile men's belongings. All the useless objects they left behind, but things like bedrolls, ponchos, food related, medical and ammo were kept. Daryl took Len's bow and arrows, Carl was eyeing the bow and it made Daryl smile, he said nothing about it for now. After everybody had organised the packs, Daryl spoke_, "So the terminus signs? Beth's right, we got to take care of em, our people could be heading that way too."_ Rick nodded, _"Yeah, your right."_ Daryl continued again, _"I thought about cleaning that place out, but I got to thinking if a group like Joes was even hesitant to attack sanctuary, then I would be even more reluctant, those guys were tough assholes, only reason we managed to take them down is cause we caught them by surprise."_ Beth added her own opinion in_, "Daryl's right, it was luck that we pulled that off. We need some ideas on what we plan to do, we are in no shape to fight a community, we will end up dying for nothing. I think we should approach this from a more safer and calculating angle, like we did with Joe's group."_ Daryl, smiled at Beth, _"You got a plan, Blondie?"_ Beth shrugged, _"Well not a plan per say, but I thinking, we should start by getting rid of those signs would a good start, leave our own saying Sanctuary/Terminus is filled with cannibals, cut off the supply of people making their way towards it"_ Rick smiled and nodded, he was surprised Beth was even making suggestions, in the prison she was always in the background, quiet and looking after Judith. The group went quiet letting the idea sink in for a moment, thinking of anything else to possibly add.

After a few quiet minutes Rick, finally continued, _"Where did you guys end up?"_ Daryl smirked, _"We went to the Gov's old place, we set up there, found a really good place, even left a message on a wall near the prison telling people where we were."_ Beth added, "he wrote: _' Hershel's murderer's place', I hope they other figure it out". _Michonne nodded, _"that's clever, I think that our people will get that"_ Beth smiled at the reassurance. Rick spoke, _"So about this Terminus place, I think Beth has a point, we have not got the strength to go in there and clean the place out, but getting rid on the signs would be a very good start, but from what I remember on the map, that could take weeks walking around though"_ Beth and Daryl looked at each other and smiled and Beth spoke up excitedly, _"Maybe not, we have two bicycles just through the trees there, it's how we managed to catch up with you guys."_ Rick spoke up, _"Yeah but you say there is two bikes only, there is five of use, three on foot, means…"_ Beth looked up at Daryl concerned and he pulled her in for a squeeze, even Carl noted this contact. Beth finished Rick's sentence reluctantly. _"Means we have to split up, two on the bikes to clear away the signs and leave our own message instead, and the other three heads off back to Woodbury make prep for the rest of us."_ Daryl knew that Beth would be heading back to Woodbury and Carl too. Rick spoke, _"I think that Beth and Carl should be heading back to Woodbury-"_ Beth cut him off, _"I think this should be a mutual decision for all Rick"_ Rick was surprised that Beth had interrupted him and voiced her opinion, but Daryl spoke looking down at Beth, _"Rick is right though Beth, either you or I needs to go back and I need you to be safe, besides, you'll be on foot, will take you four, most likely five days to get back, with the food we have you can make it back with three people, I can go with the other person and still hunt."_ Beth sighed, she knew he was right, _"Just don't like us separating after we all just got back together."_ Daryl nodded, _"I know, but this is something we have to do". _His other free arm was raised and he was now stroking her cheek with his thumb in a soothing rhythm. The others stared feeling a little embarrassed having seen the tender exchange between Beth and Daryl, they had all noticed how things were different between Daryl and Beth, but weren't exactly sure what the deal actually was. Rick, Carl and Michonne had also been knit closer together, Michonne had become more protective towards carl. Rick cleared his throat to bring everybody back to the topic at hand.

Daryl continued the conversation, _"So that leaves Rick and Michonne, who goes when Beth and who goes with me?"_ Rick spoke before anybody else could answer, _"I'll go with Daryl and Michonne goes with Beth" _Everybody nodded and then decided they needed to eat and get some rest before they all separated in the morning. Daryl and Beth set up Tony's and Billy's alarm around the little camp, Michonne used Daryl's Machete to clear some shrubs away to open there little camp area, and Carl and Rick went to get some dry twigs and pieces of wood for a fire, they all set there bedrolls around the fire while Beth reheated the meat that was left over from the previous evening, the mood lightened around the small fire, they were eating and speaking softly, even Carl was chuckling, finding each other had been a huge boost to moral, they all felt more relaxed than they had in a while, the light of the fire was blocked by all the trees around them and the alarm set up, was a good night for respite.

They were around the fire after just finishing eating, Rick, carl and Michonne all had full bellies for the first time in weeks and it was a good feeling. Rick asked questions about how they managed to infiltrate Joe's group, Daryl told the story, everybody was surprised when Daryl told how Beth had shot Len in the leg and the sass and taunting she had giving him, Beth was blushing and giggling along, told how she had told them all they were married, even the fake story they had told, skipping the last part. Rick seemed impressed but the whole narrative, Michonne adding that they had become quite the team, Beth and Daryl stared at each other and smiled and Beth gave him that shoulder bump she would always give him as a gesture of encouragement. Daryl chuckled, still watching Beth like nobody would notice, _"Yeah… we are…"_ Michonne and Rick looked at each, shifting glances back and forth to Beth and Daryl, Rick shrugged and smiled curious by this new alliance between Daryl and Beth. From what he could tell Daryl respected Beth's opinion, which was something nobody had seen often, or how protective he was towards Beth, she had been the first thing he checked on after the threat of Joe's group had disappeared, the way the two of them did not need to speak, they worked together in perfect unison, not minding the close contact with one another and even seeming to thrive and need it. Rick then realised that Beth and Daryl actually were couple, they just did not realise it yet. Michonne winked at Rick as the realisation made it to his face. Of course Michonne figured it out, she never missed a thing that women, he smiled and nodded. They decided to call it a night, everybody was getting comfortable, Daryl added a couple smaller pieces of wood to the fire and offered to take first watch, Rick had said he was taking second watch when Michonne said she would do it and that Rick needed his rest, especially after the beating he had taken, Rick put his hands up in defeat and gave Michonne a smile of thanks.

* * *

Daryl was lying behind Beth, everybody had started to breath slower, Beth had waited for everyone to doze off before she turned to face to those stormy eyes as they focussed on the fire, then on her face. She cupped his unshaven jawline, letting her nails scratch softly back and forth over the bristles, Daryl smirked speaking softly, _"You should be sleeping, tomorrow is a long day"_, he could see her expression change and she looked sad, _"I hate that we are going to be apart, I know it sounds stupid, but I feel like we been together so long I'm not sure I ever want to know what it feels like to be apart from you…"_, Daryl reached and pulled Beth closer to him, _"Don't worry Bethie, I don't like it either, but it will all be okay,."_ He leaned down and kissed her mouth so tenderly it made Beth heart skip beats and her breathing ragged, the kiss had Daryl's chest aching, he knew that he cared deeply for her and he would fight his way through hell to make it back to her. They finished their kiss a few minutes later and Daryl spoke softly against her, lips, _"Come lie closer with me and let me hold you while you get some sleep."_ Beth smiled softly, Daryl had never asked her out loud before to actually share his sleeping space with her, they just always did, but the fact that he actually verbalised it gave her a warm feeling inside, it meant he felt comfortable with them. Beth nestled herself into the crook of his arm, like the first morning they had woken up together and rested her head on his chest, her hand lay protectively over his strong beating heart, his own hand was covering hers, he kissed her forehead and breathed in Beth sweet scent, her eyes drifted off. Daryl stayed staring up at the trees and listened to all the sounds of the night, he was not looking forward to the morning.

* * *

Everybody Stood on the tracks saying their good byes, Rick asked Michonne to be careful and then made Carl promise to stay close and to be careful as well. Beth and Daryl stood on the tracks looking miserable at one another, not sure how to actually say goodbye. He reached for her hips first, pulling her roughly into his arms, and she went into them relieved, her own arms snaking around his neck, Daryl looked down at her demandingly, _"You better be safe Ms Green, there will be hell to pay if I come back home and find you not there, god help you"_ Beth looked up with watery eyes and let out a laugh and spoke back now, _"Same to you Mr Dixon, you made me some promises a couple days ago, don't break them!"_, Daryl lowered his lips to hers and kissed her so desperately it shocked them both, but like always Beth rose to his challenge and always met him there. They did not care that the other three could see them and when they broke the kiss, Beth added, _"For the record, I liked it better when you called me Ms Dixon, think about that while we are apart."_ Before Daryl could say anything back, the others were next to them and Beth went to hug Rick and whispered to him softly her tone sombre, _"Please bring him back home"_ Rick released her and looked down seriously, _"I promise, you look after my man too"_ She smiled and nodded and moved back to stand next to Daryl, she kissed him again and broke the kiss abruptly, turned and walked away calling over her shoulder about seven metres further along the track, _"Remember your promises" _Michonne and Carl followed her. Daryl watched Beth walk away, it felt like a piece of him was leaving with her, Rick clamped his hand on Daryl's shoulder and spoke reassuringly, _"They'll be fine, let's get going, the sooner we start the sooner we get home to them."_ Daryl nodded and they moved and climbed onto the bikes and started off on their journey.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Sixteen-_**


	16. Chapter 16

Beth, Michonne and Carl had been walking almost all day, they had made a fast pace, Carl even seemed in a hurry to make it back to Woodbury, that might have been due to Beth mentioning there were some peaches in jars that she had made sitting in the pantry. Michonne was quiet, but then she was most the time like that, Carl was leading up the front and the women were walking side by side, Beth told Michonne that there would be a hot bath waiting in Woodbury, Michonne eyes widened, _"And actual hot bath?"_ Beth nodded, _"Well Yeah, once I get the stove going, takes an hour or so and the water is heated, even got some nice soaps, shampoo, conditioner and even body wash in the pantry, Daryl and I found some real luxuries, plenty of tampons, pads." _Carl was rolling his eyes up front, listening to the girls conversation and sped up a little, not really wanting to hear where that conversation was going. Beth and Michonne noticed and smiled knowingly to one another.

Michonne asked a few minutes later, _"So you and Daryl?"_, Beth looked up at Michonne seriously, _"Sort of… I guess, we not really talked much about it, just kind of went with it all." _Michonne nodded and Beth continued,_ "I know the age gap bothers him a lot, he thinks he is too old for me, but I figured, this world ages us quickly, we should grab onto all the happy things we can and being with Daryl, he makes me happy, he has been different towards me than everybody else would" _Michonne asked curiously_, "How so, what do you mean? _ Beth replied, _"Well for starters, everybody at the prison would always keep me away from the more dangerous jobs, Beth look after the baby, Beth look after the kids, I'm not saying I minded none, looking after the kids is important too, but you know I never went on a run, not once. Daryl has been so different about it, he tries to get me to do things, like says I should practice killing a walkers, he'll stand there with his crossbow ready to kill if something goes wrong telling me I need to practice with the real thing and no fence between, so that I'm not caught off guard in the future situations. He encourages me, teaches me, nobody ever tried to do that with me, Daddy and Maggie just coddled. Daryl wants me to be able to protect myself, hence the bow, it was a birthday present from him, should have seen his face when he brought it home for me, the next day we went to this archery range."_ Beth let out an amused chuckle and Michonne was happy to listen to Beth continue, _"Daryl was like a kid in a candy store, he is a hard task master though, but I had so much fun"_ Beth smiled all dreamy-like, _"I guess in a nutshell, He treats me like an equal, not like a kid, we make decisions together and he encourages it, takes my ideas seriously, He makes me feel useful, he challenges me, I love how that makes Feel."_ Beth went quiet for a bit and Michonne added, _"I'm really glad we found each other again and I think what's going on between you and Daryl is positive, he is a good man under all that rough. I'm surprised it is you though Beth, but I get that now when I thought about it, you guys are a good match, filling in each other weaker points, you help him by softening his edges and he toughens you up." _Beth smiled genuinely, _"I want to find our family, but they better be prepared that I don't intend to sit on the side-lines anymore, I have a lot to contribute and I won't stand to be coddled" _Michonne grinned at Beth and gave her a side hug, _"I'm pleased to hear that and I admit I really like this side of you, I think Daryl has been good influence on you and you on him. You know when he greeted me with a hug, I was thinking who is this guy!" _Beth was chuckling, _"I guess you are right, he has changed a little bit."_ Michonne went on to added more seriously, _"I may not had known your daddy as well as most, but I'd like to think he would be proud of you Beth and happy that you found somebody to care for and that will protect you."_ Beth's face softened, _"I think your right, Daddy would be at peace with this, not sure how Maggie would react… or even Carol, no idea what was the deal between her and Daryl."_ Michonne shrugged, _"Not Sure either about that Carol business, but I have never seen Daryl Dixon kiss nobody but Beth Green, that sure is something."_ Beth blushed. and Michonne continued, _"As for your sister, I don't think you need to worry about her, you are a strong enough women to stand up for yourself and make your own decisions and she is just going to have to respect your choices."_ Beth nodded in agreement. _"I agree, I just can't be bothered with having the conversation."_

* * *

Daryl and Rick had been on the road for three days, so far they had made it to Terminus and seen the buildings and fencing, but they never ventured close by enough that they could be spotted, Rick and Daryl had done a full circle around the place and removed the signs and left a 'Beware Cannibals Terminus' along with ' Hershel's murderer's place'. Daryl and Rick had used one the Terminal Maps and split it into a grid of four, Terminus being its centre, they were now zigzaging along the bottom half of the Terminus map completing the top half of the two bottom grids. Daryl and Rick had been sleeping in Trees the first two nights, so that they both could get full nights rest each, meant that they had the energy to cover more ground, they were averaging 15mph, about 110-120 miles per day. On the third evening they had managed to find a large secure wood shed in the back of an old farm, could see it was somebodies hobby shed in the past, with all the wood carving tools, the person that had owned it had even gone through the effort of putting in an old second hand wood burner to keep the place warm in winter. They bolted the door from the inside and drew the old raggedy curtains to hide the dim light of the wood burner. They set up there bedrolls and Daryl caught the brief scent of Beth, it was almost gone now, he had missed her so much and was becoming irritable, Rick did not bother Daryl with chitchat, he sensed Daryl's mood and the way Daryl was pushing them harder and harder each day.

They were both lying on their back staring up at the darkened ceiling, letting dinner digest when Rick broke the silence, _"So I was thinking that tomorrow we should move onto working on the bottom half of the bottom right grid, then after that move up the last half the bottom Left grid, make our way back further down to Woodbury, I wanna check on the others."_ Daryl perked up and turned to Rick, _"What about the top half of the map?"_ Rick continued, _"Thought that we can do that later, we did a circle the place, that should deter somebody before they get themselves into trouble. I'm really hoping that we find our people, I dunno, maybe then we could go have a nosey round Terminus and take care of business. Like I should have done with the Governor right from the beginning, so many bad people around Daryl, I regret so many choices I've made. We got to get rid some of these bad people to give the good people a chance at living." _Daryl sighed, _"I told Beth that same thing, different words, but the same…" _Rick smirked up to the ceiling and asked, _"So what's the deal with you a Beth?"_ Daryl mouth went stiff and he turned his face towards the ceiling again, not wanting to make eye contact while having to talk about Beth, _"Whatcha mean?" _Rick let out a chuckle, _"You serious Dixon? Come on, we all seen you fawning over Beth and the way she's stuck to your side like you're joined by some invisible rope and more obviously that kiss the other morning_", Daryl stiffened and went a shade of red, he was just glad there was only the dim light. He was quiet for a while, Rick adding minute later, _"Daryl I ain't judging man, just asking. You know Carol is still out there." _Daryl frowned and looked at Rick, _"What you talking about Rick?"_ Rick replied, _"Well kind of looked like you and carol were something, is all." _Daryl shook his head, _"Nah man! Never, she wanted too, but it never felt right looking at her that way, more like a sister."_ Rick nodded, _"But you look at Beth that way, obvious cause I don't kiss a sister like that"_ Daryl rubbed his hand over his face, _"Ahh man Rick, It is what it is, I tried to keep her at an arm's length, even told her it was wrong that I'm too old for her, she tells me that the world has all aged us far too quickly what is an age anymore anyway, why not take advantage or finding a little bit if happiness where we can get it she adds."_ Rick nodded, _"She has a point, I wish I could have made right with Lori, I guess I thought I had more time, so I spent it punishing her when I could have spent it better, not saying I would forget what she had done, but I should had tried to at least work at forgiving her, Beth is smart women Daryl, the time alone with you has hardened her, in a good way."_ Daryl shook his head in disagreement, _"Nah man, I think the tough Beth has always been there, just needed a chance to shine, I never realised she could have quite the temper when provoked. Len, that guy who tried to rape Beth, realised it when she sunk a bolt into his Leg, then she complained she missed the shot cause she been aiming for his junk all along."_ Daryl and Rick both burst out laughing.

After they quietened Rick pressed further, _"Is it serious then?"_ Daryl stared up at the ceiling for a bit resting his hands behind his head before answering, _"When we met up with you that evening, we did not tell you about the guy I took care of in the bushes. Beth came up with a plan, she wanted better odds for when Joe's group attacked you, we planned to kill the guy Len, while she helped him walk, I covered from behind, when he put his arm around her and was sniffing at her, I felt something snap inside me, every step we moved closer in your direction I could feel my excitement building, I have never felt pleasure and joy when killing somebody, but I felt so much when I killed him, knowing he would never lay another finger on her… So yeah… I guess It's serious…"_

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Seventeen-_**


	17. Chapter 17

It was the Fourth day, Beth, Carl and Michonne had spent the night in the same house where Rick had his first 'run in' with Joe's group, it was almost like coming full circle Beth thought as she stared up at the house waiting on Carl, he was shoving some comics into his pack as he came out, this made her smile. Beth had out a map that Daryl had given her, she was showing Michonne, _"We are here, when Daryl and I came through we had come via the prison, I think we should skip it make for a more direct route to Woodbury, if we push ourselves hard we can be there by sunset."_ Michonne nodded, _"No point on going the same route back, I like the idea of getting to Woodbury sooner, but then we got to push on."_ Carl was standing with them now, Beth looked at Carl, _"What you think Carl?"_ Carl seemed a little taken back being asked for his input and looked at the map, _"It's all on road, no forest, no train tracks and stones, I don't like walking on stones, I can feel them through my the soles of my shoes, I'm game, I'm sure I could push myself harder on an even surface." _Michonne mussed up Carl's hair and smiled, he did not seem to mind none, he just smiled and put his hat on his head.

Beth smiled, _"Well alright then, let's get to those peaches."_ Beth turned and started walking on their plotted course, he came up and walked next to Beth, Michonne was following behind them, Carl smiled sideways towards Beth, with one eye squinted like he always seemed to do, _"So you weren't teasing me about them peaches"_ Beth chuckled, _"Would I do that?"_ Carl chuckled, _"Well, you've changed some."_ Beth smiled, _"I could not stay same Carl, we got to adapt, with that comes change, we all have to find our place."_, Carl answered, _"I know, just surprised is all, I like it, I don't feel I need to be looking out for you so much."_ Beth chuckled, _"Ah Carl, we are family, I'll always need you to look out for me, the same way I will always do my best to look out for you, it's what family does."_ Carl added, _"Michonnes family too."_ Beth chimed in, _"Well that goes without saying!"_ Beth turned and smiled at Michonne who was smiling at the ground.

It was mid-afternoon when the three of them came across five walkers stumbling across the asphalt road, Carl took out his gun and Beth put her hand on his weapon and whispered, _"We do this quietly, I don't want us to be side-tracked from our course."_ The walkers had not noticed them on account of heading the same direction as them, Michonne already had her Katana out. Beth reached for her bow and took position, she slowly crept forward, closer to get a more accurate shot. She sunk the first bolt into the walker head, it dropped to the ground, a second walker turned slowly and Beth sunk the next bolt into its mouth, the rest of the walkers turned and started ambling in their direction, Beth placed the bow back on her back, she was not comfortable taking the shot on a moving target, she was not skilled enough for that yet, she reached for Daryl's hunting knife and closed the distance between her and a walker, the knife went straight into the eye, like Daryl had told her, Michonne dropped two walkers with her katana effortlessly. Carl came and stood next to the two women and was grinning excitedly, _"Wow Beth", I was not kidding when I said you changed, you're badass."_ Michonne was chuckling, Beth was blushing, and Carl looked at Michonne adding, _"Always knew you were though."_ Beth reached for her bolts and wiped the gunk off onto the grass on the side of the road, doing the same with her knife, she got up and continued walking like the five walkers had never crossed their path. _"C'mon, I don't wanna stick around here, there could be more in the treeline."_ They followed Beth, the walkers had inspired them to pick up the pace again.

It was about an hour after sunset when they reached Woodbury, Beth crept in first checking the main street for any sign of disturbance, Michonne came and crouch down next to her, _"what we doing?"_ Beth answered, _"Checking for walker bodies, Daryl and I cleared away any walker we killed and moved the bodies along the fences, if their bodies in the street then we know somebodies been here."_ Michonne smiled, _"Full of surprises today."_ Beth stood up and started to make her way quietly down the road towards the ally way of the post office, it was quiet and things looked that same as when Daryl and her had left roughly a week ago. She slipped through the gate and closed it securely behind Michonne and Carl, then moved to retrieve the key from under the stone where Daryl hid it.

Beth felt a sense of emptiness when she entered the property, She bolted the door behind them and hung the key behind the door, Beth broke the silence, _"You can leave your bags down here, toilet is over here, it flushes to a septic tank, we have running water in Woodbury."_ Beth started to roll the thick rug and the floor door came into view, Carl exclaimed, _"No Way!"_ Beth smiled and pulled open the door, _"Yes way! Peaches are down there and there is a spare single bed down there."_ Michonne and Beth went upstairs, Beth started by making a fire in the kitchen's fire stove while Michonne looked around, Michonne waited till Beth was done and asked, "That room downstairs, the front part, you using it?" Beth shook her head, _"Nah, figured we could put some beds or cots in there."_ Michonne nodded, _"So you would not mind if I used it to sleep in, till we figured out what we gonna do"_ Beth smiled, _"Not as all, Daryl found an inflatable mattress and stored it in the pantry, we got some spare sheets, we can hang them over the bars and I can put up window covers tomorrow."_ Michonne nodded, Beth moved downstairs and found Carl was sitting on the table with his hand into a jar of peaches, Beth and Michonne, both started Laughing and Carl commented how dark it was down there, Beth grinned and went down with the torch, she lit two candles on the shelves Daryl had put up, Michonne followed her down once she had lit the candles down in the pantry, Beth was already pulling out the air mattress from under the stairs. Michonne whistled, "I never seen anything like this, was this down here all along?" Beth new she meant the supply room and she hesitated over her words, "Um, no, it used to be something else, we turned it into the pantry…" "You and Daryl stocked this whole room" Beth smiled, "Took us about three weeks." Michonne frowned, "What's with the soundproofing?" Beth did not answer, instead dragged the mattress up the stairs, Carl was still munching on the peaches and looked up apologetically, "Sorry I finished almost half." Beth smiled, _"Sokay, well get some more peaches from the orchard outside of town."_ Carl grinned.

Beth had the mattress unfolded and was using a foot pump to inflate it, Carl came and took over and Beth thanked him. Beth went back upstairs to put some water on the boil, Michonne followed and asked curiously, _"You did not say about the pantry, should I not ask?"_ Beth looked up stiffly, _"I think we should wait for the water to boil and I will fill you in, it's really not a nice one and I did not want Carl to hear."_ Michonne watched Beth pour them some herbal tea and Beth handed her the mug and they both settled on the two single couches, after a couple sips Beth relaxed and told Michonne the story of the first day they found the 'pantry'. Michonne had he mouth hanging wide open, Beth nodded, _"Yup, told you it was not a nice one."_ Michonne nodded too, _"No kidding, not sure I could have stayed here after that."_ Beth sighed, _"Almost did not either, but then we stayed in the prison where bad people used to be kept, can't penalise a place cause it had a shit previous owner"_ Michonne sipped her tea, _"I guess not when you put it like that, still though…"_ Beth continued, _"We decided we would give the room a better purpose."_ They both finished their tea and Beth fished out some clean clothes out of the wardrobe for Michonne and Carl.

Beth started on dinner, there was still potatoes in the vegetable basket, so she peeled and boiled them, she went down to the pantry for a tin of chunky tomato pasta sauce, the kind that looked more like salsa and a can sausages, she found Carl laying on the bed in reading some comics, she told him dinner would be ready in twenty minutes and that he could get cleaned up once Michonne was out of the bathroom.

Michonne, Beth and Carl sat on the floor upstairs, dinner was a bed mashed potatoes with the sausages cooked in the chunky tomato sauce covering it, Carl was hovering it into his mouth, talking with his mouth half full, saying how tasty it was, Michonne agreed with Carl and thanked Beth, after dinner Michonne insisted her and Carl clean up the kitchen while Beth went in to the bath last, she smiled and disappeared behind the bathroom door, to be honest she was looking forward to some time alone. Laying in the bath using a flannel with soap she started to scrub the dirt away till her skin was pink, she washed her hair too, she lay soaking and her thoughts drifted off to Daryl, she really missed him so much and hoped he was okay. Beth wondered when he would come home and how they were getting on with removing the Terminus signs, it was a large map to cover she realised, would have taken weeks on foot, she wondered how much they had managed to cover so far, would the signs being removed and new signs help, how long would it take for the cannibals to realise that their signs had been tampered with, she hoped it would take a long time, Joe had said they barely ventured out the community anyways.

Beth emerged a while later from the bathroom, the upstairs was empty, she called softly down the stairs, _"Michonne?"_ , she heard Michonne call, _"Yeah, I'm down here"_, Beth followed and saw Michonne laying on the air mattress and Beth asked, _"Is it comfortable?"_ Michonne smiled, _"Surprisingly, I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight"_, Beth inquired further, _"You sure, if it's not we can share upstairs?"_ Michonne smiled, _"Nah, I'm good here, suits me just fine."_ Beth nodded, _"Well alright, what about you Carl?"_ Carl only gave a brief reply, obviously to enthralled in his comic, _"I'm good!"_ Beth smiled, _"Well alright, then I guess I'll call it a night, plenty to do tomorrow. G'night."_ Both Michonne and Carl replied _"Night!"._ Beth figured they were also grateful for some time alone, with that in mind she darted quickly up the stairs, blowing all the candles but the one on the kitchen counter, she sunk into the bed she and Daryl had shared and found herself aching to have him near to her, the world just felt turned upside now, seeking comfort she buried her face into Daryl's pillow and breathed in his lingering smell, she sighed a little, it may have made her feel calmer, but she only ached to be near him more.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Eighteen-_**


	18. Chapter 18

Beth and Michonne had both gotten up early the next morning, they drank another tea together and discussed things they wanted to accomplish, Beth had mentioned the cover for the downstairs windows and Michonne mentioned she wanted to look at the properties next door and behind the post office. Carl was still sleeping so they decided to leave him for a while, he deserved a rest, Beth and Michonne went to the hardware store down the road and grabbed two small ladders. They return quickly and set up the first ladder, Michonne climbed up first and was sitting on the fence as Beth passed her the second ladder and said, _"I've never actually looked over the fence, what is on the other side?"_ Michonne answered, _"It's a really big back yard and a house with a high wooden fence around, I don't see any walkers, and the grass is out of control."_ After Michonne set the ladder on the other side of the fence, Beth handed Michonne her katana and spoke, _"I'll be there in a minute, I'll just let Carl know where we are at."_ When Beth went inside he was on the single couch upstairs with a pile of comics, _"Hey Carl we just checking out all the properties next door, the gate is secured."_ Carl replied, _"Aight"_ Beth went back and climbed over the ladder, Michonne was waiting for her, the grass was long till above there knees, and while Michonne had been waiting she had hacked a path up back garden, _"Wow really is long here, you think there is any walkers hiding under this?"_ Michonne shook her head, _"I have not heard anything, but I guess we should be careful all the same."_ Beth hung back behind Michonne and let her hacked some more grass till they reached the large back porch, it was a large single story house with a very large garden.

Michonne and Beth opened the back door and knocked, nothing, all was silent, Beth whispered, _"Daryl said most the places around Woodbury centre were clear, he suspected that it was mostly cleared when the governor was running Woodbury, on the outer parts of town that's not fenced you can see walkers, but mostly you don't see them in the centre unless they wonder in through the entrance, but that's not so much anymore as Daryl and I shifted a few cars to make it harder for them to wonder in."_ Michonne nodded and entered the property, it was very old and must have been one of the original buildings of Woodbury. It looked to be a single story place, but had a basement leading off the Kitchen which was on the backside of the house, they cleared the ground floor and basement quickly, it was a large family home with four bedrooms, a dining area open planned with the kitchen, lounge, first bedroom was the master, with three slightly smaller, they looked like that were previously lived in my teens, one had a single bed and the other two had double beds. Beth spoke again, _"So what are we looking for exactly, I'm sure this place has been picked clean."_ Michonne looked at Beth seriously_, "We can't all live in that studio apartment, when Rick and Daryl gets back it will start to get crowded and I'm sure Daryl and you would like some privacy when he gets back too."_ Beth blushed and blurted out, _"Um we ain't never.. you know.."_ Michonne stared, _"Oh… it was not my intention to pry I only meant- "_ Beth softened, _"No, it's okay I appreciate the consideration… I want to with Daryl, but last two times we got close to, he…"_ Michonne asked, _"he?"_, there was a long pause and Michonne added, _"I'm sorry, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but if you need to talk I will listen, I'm discreet and I don't mind."_ Beth looked really surprised, _"Just never thought you would wanna have conversations like that."_ Michonne laughed, _"I guess I don't come across as the most 'open' person to speak with, but you can try me."_ Beth was beaming, _"Well okay… but, I have not got much to say really, just what I said before we never been together, together. I want to but he always stops it before it get to serious… I'm afraid I will never get to be with him, never actually been with a guy I wanted to with, till him."_ Michonne eyes were round_, "You never at all?"_ Beth shook her head, _"I mean I had boyfriends, they tried, but I just never wanted to, just never felt right."_ Michonne nodded, _"And it feels right with Daryl?" _Beth smiled,_ "Yeah…" _Michonne smiled at Beth_, "Well then, it's all the more reason to get this place checked out."_

They moved to the front of the property, the house also had a large high fence in the front with a large gate and driveway for cars that lead to the garage, this was to the side of the house, Michonne continued to hack her way through the grass and went to secure the front gates on the latch in case there were walkers around, Michonne spoke, "_I think we should go check the garage, see what tools are out there, we should maybe get the grass under control, lock the front gates and maybe get the guys to put a gate between the studio and the house._" Beth looked serious, _"You think we will stay here in Woodbury"_, Michonne shrugged, _"I dunno, we'll see."_ There were all sorts of tools inside the garage it had been more of a tool shed and workshop than a place to store a car, there were all sorts technical manuals on shelves above the workbench and a couple laying on the bench itself, Beth took a closer look out of curiosity, she looked through the manual, then looked across at the dark panels resting against the wall there was about ten of them, Beth swore, "Well I'll be damned!" Michonne came and stood next to her, "What is it?" Beth started laughing, "All this time we were trying to build a home at the prison, having one crap thing after another happen, we come here and everything is just landing in our laps." Michonne frowned, _"I don't Follow?"_ Beth grinned, _"We find a town that actually still has running water, the old fire stove and now those things sitting against the wall, the old owner must have been an eco freak or something, those are solar panels." _Michonne started to laugh, _"You serious?"_ Beth nodded, _"Yeah, as serious as a heart attack… I really wish daddy had made it to see things finally going right for a change."_ Michonne moved towards some manual hedge trimmers, Beth frowned, _"what you plan to do with those"_, Michonne replied, _"Going to start trimming the grass"_ Beth nodded and pointed to the push mower, Michonne frowned, _"What's that"_ Beth smiled, _"well once you trimmed it short enough, that is a push mower, we can ask Carl do it, I'm sure he won't mind." _

Beth and Michonne had gone back to the hardware store and got another pair of manual hedge trimmers and some locks and a chain and got Carl to come back with them to the new house. They secured the front fences, then started on the grass of the backyard, They were at it for more than two hours when they took a break and Carl spoke up, _"If you told me last week I'd be mowing a lawn I would have laughed at you."_ Both women chuckled, after a while longer they went back to work. Another hour they all stood there looking at the fresh cut yard, Michonne added, _"Looks good, I think I will start a list inside of things we might need"_, Carl looked at Michonne, _"Why you need to make a list?"_ Michonne explained, _"Well the post office is not exactly big and when your dad and Daryl gets back its going to get crowded and maybe with the clues they leaving behind the others might find us, we got to think about space, not sure if we will plan to settle here, but we got the time now, so why not?"_ Carl nodded, _"I guess you're right, can I come look inside with you, pick a room?"_ Michonne nodded, _"Sure"_ and started moving with Carl towards the house. Beth started packing the tools and mower away and followed them later into the house, She found Michonne looking through hallway storage, _"And how's it going, you need much things?"_ Michonne answered, _"Well there is plenty of linen, we could get a bbq that uses wood, there's a tub to do washing in, I found two portable laundry drying racks, there enough space for Rick to do some of his vegetable gardening. The fence is solid, not wire like the prison, sound should not carry so far. I think it's as good as it's going to get."_ Beth nodded, _"Well alright all sounds promising, where's carl?"_ Michonne pointed to the room with the single bed and Beth poked her head inside, _"Hey how you getting on in here?"_ Carl nodded, _"Yeah it's a decent room, there are some books on the shelves, I would like to read, the clothes in the wardrobe are maybe a size to big, but that okay I'm growing, I guess. Found a pair of sneakers in the wardrobe, shoes almost fit, so I took them and put on an extra pair of socks… I like the all space posters and planets hanging from the ceiling, even peaceful in a way, I think I'm good here."_ Beth smiled, _"Well I'm pleased to hear that, I think I will head off back to the studio, got a bit of a headache"_ Carl nodded and reached for a book off the shelf and plopped down on the bed as Beth turned to leave, she passed Michonne mentioning that she had a headache and was going to go take a lie down. Michonne looked up concerned and Beth waved a hand, _"I think I'm a bit dehydrated, did not drink enough water last night and today, will be fine after I drink a few glasses and lie down"_ Michonne nodded, _"Well alright, I'll come check on you in a bit" _Beth got back to the studio and drank a couple glasses of water and went to lie down with a cool flannel covering her eyes and forehead and drifted off to sleep for a couple hours.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Nineteen-_**


	19. Chapter 19

It was mid-afternoon, day six of being apart from Beth, Daryl had stopped for a couple hours ago to go hunting, Beth probably needed so fresh meat, he managed to hunt, skin, gut the deer and wrap in his poncho, then tied it awkwardly to the back of his Bike. As they got closer to Woodbury, Daryl said he needed to make a quick detour, Rick was surprised when they stopped off in the driveway of a house, Daryl spoke, _"Got to quickly grab something real quick, will take me ten minutes, I'll be in the backyard."_ Rick nodded and frowned when Daryl took a screwdriver out and disappeared around the side of the house. Rick only noticed a couple walkers about hundred metres down the road, nothing to be concerned about. Was Ten minutes when Daryl came back holding a metal box under his arm, Rick looked at him in confusion, _"What is that?"_ Daryl tied 'it' to the back of Rick's Bike as Daryl's bike already was carrying the deer, _"Oh this it's a promise", _Rick let out a laugh, _"Should I even ask?"_ Daryl smirked, _"Probably not…"_ After he secured the object, they set off through Woodbury till they reached the fenced off centre, and made there way to the post office, the tension in Daryl's shoulders was like a wound up spring, ever metre he got closer to the post office, his heart started beating faster. Down the alley and through the gate, Daryl rested his bike against the fence and made his way inside. Beth was lying on the bed, she had his novel he had been intending to read resting on her chest, she had dozed off, he went to her side and brushed her cheek with his thumb, leaned down and brushed his lips softly against hers and leaned back to watch her again, her eyes were fluttering open and she frowned, _"Is that really you?"_ Daryl smiled, _"Sure is Blondie, you miss me?"_ Beth beamed and hooked her arm around his neck and pulled him down so she could greet him properly, Her lips were hungry and demanding on his, Daryl was surprised by the intensity which had his body responding quickly to hers, he matched her ravenous kiss and finally broke apart when Rick was clearing his throat at the top of the stairs, _"Um, hi? So where Carl and Michonne?"_ Beth turned red and they both sat up quickly like they been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Beth swallowed, _"Hii! Oh! Yeah, come I'll show you." _She slipped her shoes on and walked past Rick, outside to the ladders, both men followed her to the house, she slipped inside calling, _"Michonne? Carl?"_ Michonne Called out first and they found her in the bathroom wearing shorts and a t-shirt, she was standing in the tub washing clothes, only it looked more like she was squishing grapes with her feet. Beth burst out laughing and so did the two men when they entered, Michonne was grinning, _"Well welcome back!"_ Rick went and gave her a hug while she stood in the bath. _"Where Carl?"_, Michonne answered, _"Most likely in his room reading."_ Beth lead Rick to Carl's Room and knocked on his door, she opened it and let Rick step in, then she heard Carl excited, _"Dad! Finally, what took you so long?!"_ Daryl and Beth stepped into the room, holding hands and watched father and son embracing, then moved back to the studio.

As the got back over the fence, they were standing in the courtyard when Daryl spoke, _"So, I got you something" _Beth grinned up at him, _"You always seem to give me surprises in the courtyard"_ Daryl smirked, _"Yeah I guess so."_ He moved to Rick's bike and started to untie the metal box and leaned it up against the wall for Beth to look at, _"Oh my God, Daryl Dixon, you got me a washing line?"_, _"Yes I did"_, Beth beamed up at him, _"Awe, your promise."_ Her eyes softened and she gave him a tender kiss, _"Thank you Daryl, but I'm more excited about you being home"_ Daryl smirked, _"I can't wait till after dinner."_ Beth sighed, _"Me too!"_

Daryl and Beth cut up the meat for dinner on the desk downstairs, Beth went to start a stew while Daryl continued to make thin slithers of meat for jerky, she came back twenty minutes later with the salt, paperclips and line she used previously to make jerky, they worked quickly together. After they cleaned up Daryl went up for a bath, he was looking forward to feeling clean again. Beth was waiting on their bed when he came out the shower, Beth was gawking when he walked toward her wearing only pair of track pants, seeing his chest and toned stomach made her cheeks flush, he sat down next to her and she pressed her nose against the spot wear his shoulder and arm met, she inhaled then spoke, _"I bet it feels good to have a shower after so long."_, Daryl chuckled and curled a stray strand around her ear, _"I was afraid I would smother you so death with my smell when I came home, I'm glad to feel all clean yeah."_ Beth grinned, _"Can't say I noticed the smell, I was just so glad you were back. Did you manage to take care of the Terminus signs?"_ Daryl explained how they had put the maps into grids and what they had completed. Beth looked serious_, "Well sounds like you managed to complete a lot."_ Daryl nodded, _"Yeah you guys too, I see that Michonne and Carl pretty much moved into the house behind and I guess Rick will too."_ Beth nodded_, "Yeah Michonne's idea, she said that five people living here with the possibility of more on the way, it was best to have more space, I'm relieved to be honest, I think it's perfect for two."_ Daryl looked at her seriously, _"I guess that something else to decide, you wanna move in with them or keep living here?" _Beth looked up, a bit concerned_, "I like living here, just the way things are, don't you?_" Daryl was staring at her serious face when he said. _"Yeah, I like living here, I think it works well."_ Daryl curled his arm around her and pulled her closer to him, placed a kiss on the top of her hair and breathed in her smell and whispered, _"Yeah, it's good…" _he was silent for a minute before he added thoughtfully, _"I could still smell you on my bedroll, everyday it faded more and more, made me sad."_ Beth replied, _"I'm glad to hear that, at least now I don't feel like a weirdo for snorting your pillow like some cocaine addict."_ Daryl was laughing loudly, he could hardly imagine Beth snorting cocaine, but it warmed his chest to know she had missed him just as much as he had missed her.

Beth and Daryl took the stew over to the house, Michonne grabbed some plates and forks, they even sat round the table in the dining kitchen. Daryl took a seat next to Beth, Carl came in and greeted them and spoke, _"Yum, smells good, can't wait to try it."_ Daryl added, _"Beth makes a mean ass stew!"_ Beth started to laugh, _"That's what you said about the jerky"_, Daryl smirked and shrugged, _"It is what it is"_ Carl looked at Daryl's damp hair, _"Hey Daryl, you cut your hair?"_ Daryl just nodded, not really in the mood to talk about his hair that everybody at the prison used to hassle him about getting it cut, so he started eating the stew. Everybody seemed to enjoy dinner, Beth and Daryl excused themselves after rinsing their plates quickly and went to the backdoor, saying they were tired, Michonne was handing Beth the pot with leftover stew, when Beth told her to keep it for the three of them for breakfast, Michonne smiled and thanked her. Daryl and Beth said goodbyes, carl disappeared back to his room before Beth and Daryl made it out the back door. Rick watched Beth and Daryl walk towards the back fence as he spoke to Michonne, _"What you make of that?"_, Michonne came and stood next to Rick, watching the other couple climb over the fence, _"In the beginning I thought it was a peculiar pairing, but quickly realised they are actually good for one another, what you think?"_ Rick nodded, _"I think they deserve a bit of happiness."_ Michonne nodded_, "I think we all deserve some happiness for a change, I got a good feeling about this place."_

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Twenty-_**


	20. Chapter 20

****WARNING - Adult content in this chapter****

* * *

Daryl and Beth were back in their studio, he was lighting a couple candles in the dim room and she using the last of the fire to boil some water for them. Beth spoke, _"Do you think they will stay here, in Woodbury I mean?"_ Daryl replied, _"For now at least, we have a good set up."_ Beth was quiet for a moment then spoke seriously, _"If everybody chooses to leave in the end, I'm not sure I would go with."_ Daryl snapped up his head in her direction, _"What do you mean, Beth?"_ Beth pushed the pan off the stove and came and stood in front of him, _"What I mean is that I won't be dictated too, I will make my own choice of where I choose to be. Daryl I can't go back being Beth from before the prison attack, not that girl anyways, blindly following, I know it sounds bad, cause of what happened to daddy, I feel selfish because I actually feel like I'm living for once, those first few weeks with you Daryl have been some of my favourites, including before the Zombie shit happened."_ Daryl just stared back for a moment, _"That's the nicest thing anybody said to me Beth."_ Beth still serious, _"Well it's true… I realise you're supposed to be the 'broken' one, with your past and all, I hope you will tell me about it someday, but no matter where the future takes us, I want you to know you saved me Daryl Dixon."_ Daryl's face was almost sad, _"Pretty soon you won't even need me, hell you probably don't need me now anymore."_ Beth face softened into a gentle smile, her hand reaching up and cupping his jawline, _"Oh Daryl, your taking my statement literally."_ She reached with her free hand and took his, she placed it on her chest, over her heart, _"You saved me Daryl Dixon."_ Daryl felt shy, how did he reply to something like that. Beth spoke against softly, _"I have a few things to say before I lose my courage, everything it just so exposed with you… I know what started out as a sex thing, with minus the sex."_ She gave a nervous laugh, _"It's not just physical anymore, you feel this too right?"_ She was staring up at him with a pair of vulnerable blue eyes, biting her bottom lip nervously. Daryl broke the silence, _"It's more.."_ Beth nodded with relief, _"I got to ask Daryl, cause I could handle rejection if it was just sex, I know it's prying, but I need to know, do I have to worry about any 'history' with you and Carol?"_ Daryl face was written first in surprise, then he realised Rick had asked him the same question a few days ago, He put both his hands on her shoulders reassuring, _"Beth you ain't ever got to worry about Carol, nothing ever happened there, I only seen her like sibling, might have been different for her though." _Daryl could feel the tension relax from Beth shoulders and she added_, "I only care what you feel"_

Daryl leaned down and kissed her tenderly and Beth opened her mouth to him, her tongue flicked forward to meet and tease his, Daryl moaned, he let his hands drop to her hips, her own hands had made their way into his hair, he liked the way her fingers felt on his scalp and made the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, causing a shiver to caress down his spine. He had his hands on the bottom of her ribcage and was stroking her soft silky skin, making her skin flush with goosebumps and the pit of her stomach burn, she moaned his name into his mouth and it had him achingly pull her hard into his solid frame, her softer form accommodating to his. Her hands had made their way to his waist and her fingers were caressing the skin before settling on the hem of his shirt, she excitedly started to tug at it and it quickly ended up on the floor discarded, is was not long before Daryl was reciprocating and she stood there wearing her track pants and a soft yellow lacy bra. Daryl's stormy eyes darkened as he drank in the sight of her, she still had her hands on his stomach and was feathering her tips in the soft trail on hair that started above his navel and became thicker as it travelled below his waistband of his track pants, she teased at the waistband of his pants and the look in his eyes became almost predatory, her breath hitched and she stepped backwards, her heart was beating faster but never they broke eye contact and he followed till she felt the bed on the back of her legs, she effortlessly slipped onto the surface and moved back slowly on her knees and Daryl followed her like he was stalking, she liked that way he was looking at her, it made her ache and throb between her legs, she stopped when she was in the centre of the bed and Daryl continued forward, the side of his face was next to hers and she was breathing raggedly, Daryl's stubbly chin, scraped softly down her jawline to her ear, Beth instinctively angled her neck and he took the invitation to nibble on her earlobe, she was sighing as he started to drag his teeth along the softly creamy skin of her neck, him leaving little pink streaks in his wake, it made her shiver all over with pleasure. Daryl had never really taken the time to explore any women's body from his past, but with Beth, he wanted to taste every inch her body had to offer, he was nibbling and sucking softly along her collarbone, her fingers had grown a little braver, they were behind his back and slipped under the waistband of his pants, she could not help as she scratched her nails along the skin of his rear, this made Daryl nip at the skin of her neck and she moaned out.

Daryl became more aggressive and cupped his strong arm around the back of her knees and pulled her swiftly forward, bringing her flat on her back, him pinning her down with his hard body and kissing her like he was starving. Her hips were grinding against his, while she enjoyed the feel of his erection through both fabrics, she continued to wriggle and rub, hoping the fabric would give, Daryl grabbed her pants and shoved it down on the either side of her hips, she continued to wriggle helping the fabric slither to her toes, kicking it till it slipped off the bed and pooled onto the floor. She was Laying under him now with her yellow lacy bra and panty set, Daryl leaned back and looked down at her and gave a strangled moaned. Beth sat up, resting on her elbows and reached for the clasp in the front of her bra and let the material spring apart, her breasts on proud display, the straps slid down her upper arms and had Daryl's breath catching and whispering her name hoarsely, _"Beth, oh god.."_ Her buried his face into her chest and brought his lips to the rosy tip of one of her nipples, he kissed and sucked it softly, Beth hung her head back, still resting on her elbows, her chest leaning forward to offer him more of herself, his mouth moved over to her other neglected breast and a hand came up to replace where his mouth had been, he pinched her nipple softly and it had her crying out. Beth shifted her elbows and lay flat on her back, she reached for his pants impatiently pushing and he helped by tugging them, his heavy erection jutting forward, She felt it touch inside of her leg, she was curious and was looking down at him, Beth's eyes widened, she had never seen a man naked in the flesh, Daryl stilled watching her letting her get used to the situation, she reached slowly down and stroked her thumb softly over his tip, his shaft flicked forward and had Daryl's eyes closed and was sucking in air, she wrapped her small hand around him, her grip was firm but gentle and Daryl could not help the hiss of pleasure escaping his mouth, Beth watched his facial expressions, she slid her hand down the length slowly, he let out another hiss and she started to slide her hand back and forth, he looked like he was in pain, she slowed and leaned up to kiss her mouth with his, he was kissing her back urgently and was now long till she was wriggling up against him again, they both were tugging at her panties and like their pants before, they found their way to the floor as well.

Daryl reached his hand between them and started to slide her fingers slowly up her inner thigh, her breath was hitching again, his tips skittled across her lips, softly caressing before teasing her slit, she was dripping for him and she was pleading with her eyes for him to not stop, he leaned up and kissed her barely able to restrain himself, she was whimpering and Daryl had to still himself, Beth eyes widened and she whispered, _"Don't ever stop, I need you."_ Daryl resolve broke and he was kissing and grinding his length against her inside of her thigh, every now and again his tip would skim over her sensitive nub and had her whimpering louder, it was not long till he was sliding along the slit, he could feel her heat warming him and slicking his length and making him shudder, Beth's eyes were focussed on his face, she had almost felt herself come undone a few times, but never quite managed to let herself drop off the edge and find out where the feeling would go. Daryl was focused on her face, he was flushed and looked just as frustrated as her, she reached up and cupped his face, staring up at him and whispered with an uneven husky voice, _"Daryl I'm ready.."_ He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, his let himself slide down further than he had let himself before, he sunk his tip into her hottest part, his eyes never leaving hers, she instinctively arched her back and he slipped just a little further inside, coming up against a soft barrier, he stopped not wanting to hurt her, but she arched again, letting him nudge further, _"Daryl, don't stop"_ Daryl gave a swift push and stilled his body, Beth let out a whimper of pain, he stayed still and started to kiss her lips, the kiss started off tender, but soon became urgent and had him shifting inside her slowly, her body adjusting to his, she moved to wrap her legs around him and he started longer, slower and deeper strokes, Beth started to moan louder, she was starting to enjoy the sensations that were rippling through her body and it had Daryl moaning along with her, their bodies rocking together in a comfortable rhythm, after a while she became impatient and pushed the pace harder, her nails on his shoulder blades, it was not long till she felt herself tense then shatter and explode, her fingers biting into his skin, when Daryl felt her shudder and tighten along with the desperate clawing on his back, it drove him over the edge, he called out her name loudly as he climaxed, after a few seconds started to try move away but Beth urged him to stay where he was, she was not ready to be separated from the most beautiful thing she had ever experienced.

* * *

**_-To be continued in Chapter Twenty one-_**


End file.
